This new cam is a great addition to all your other cam “adventures”, and very enjoyable. Being able to hear and see the activity is fun! Yes, I was wondering what that sound of building was in the background, and now I know it’s your basement being finished. A suggestion I have is that it would be helpful to have a link to help us identify the birds we are seeing. Maybe a link to birds in your area. Thanks.

Great view of the feeders, the new cam Rocks and I love the sound. Thanks for switching to the hummer, that was great to see.

Lynne, I’m working on a post to identify the common birds. Give me a little time because I only know a few of them so far! Being a newbie is fun after 40.

Mary: cool, ya caught a hummer. I watch sometimes while I’m working/surfing and when I hear them buzzing (can’t mistake that sound), I press a button to go to the hummingbird feeder. Now if I can automate that process.

This cam is better but it’s not good enough for this application (it’s better for long range shots); I have another coming that will zoom the critters with some serious detail. They’re going to have to sacrifice some privacy for a free meal!

Maybe you could move the humming bird feeder to between the other feeders. Then I won’t get anything done at work. I saw a pan to it, but have not seen a humming bird there yet. I’m from Blairsville, but tune in from MD and VA.

Hey Kip,

Just discovered your new webcam. Great job! We have been enjoying all the birds around our cabin in Blue Ridge. They are really numerous, and we enjoy their musical antics. We will be back up in time for the Fourth of July activities. In the meantime, it is fun to observe them in your backyard. It would be helpful to be able to identify them as we, too, are new to birding. Thanks, again.

Joe: I believe I have the solution with this cam; instead of moving the hummer feeders to the bird feeders, the cam will move to the hummer feeders. I’ll be adding more feeders & trying out some new nectar to draw in some more traffic.

Hi Gloria,
Thanks! They are numerous (and ravenous); I’m really surprised at how many there are already. I’m hooked. Stopping by the shop Thursday to talk to Tom about adding more bird hardware. Now that I can get some good close-ups, I’m working on a post that will identify the birds with actual cam snapshots.

Kip, have just discovered your cam and am loving it. I have been a bird lover all my life–it was our family hobby to feed and identify the many birds of this region. Most of what I’m seeing on your feeders now are male and female goldfinch along with a nuthatch, Carolina chickadee, and tufted titmouse. I’ve even seen an occasional male cardinal. Saw a male hummingbird zoom by but not stop at the feeder, too. You are correct, they are a hungry lot! Please keep the cams up and running. They are most entertaining throughout my day!

Judy

A bird established a nest under our carport and proceeded to raise her family. It was right in the line of sight of my kitchen window. By the time I realized it was there, the eggs had hatched, and the Mom was feeding her young. The youngsters got so big I couldn’t see how they all fit in the little nest. Then one morning they were gone…off to complete the cycle of life.

My son also had a bird nest under his carport. Check the eaves of your house. It would be neat to catch this on your webcam. Although you will probably have to wait until next Spring.

Nice cam! I’ve featured you on my blog today. Have you considered using Ustream.tv? They have a really cool streaming video service that is free and I think would work pretty well for your cam. Just a thought..

http://www.birdwatchingblog.com/bird-feeder-cams/feed-me-bird-feeder-cam

You need to add more food to the feeder!!! Thanks again for this feeder webcam; I really enjoy it so much! (and your real estate website is the best in the area too…I pass it along to anyone that inquires about property in the Blue Ridge area, along with the webcams!)

Thanks Birdwatching Blog! Really appreciate the bird cam article. Better cam on the way. I’ll check out ustream. Threw you a blogroll.

Thanks Terri. I think I’ll put a “fill the feeder lazy!” link on the cam page.

Hi,

I stumbled on your web cam for a bird feeder today and now need a user number and password.

I live in Georgetown, Texas, but have owned a cabin off Aska Road since 1999.

I was a member of the Fannin county Christmas Bird Count this year and have known Tom Striker since he began his store. May I have a user number and password to watch your bird feeder?

Look at the ajc story under photos and you will see my picture and misspelled name!

Barbara Owens

Hi Barbara,
You caught me working on the cam. That’s the only time it asks for a password, which is rare.

We used to be neighbors with the Strikers when we had a cabin in Cashes Valley. We still have a lot over there so I guess we’re still technically neighbors. Great folks. Which AJC story?

Hi Kip,

The ajc story was on Sunday, January 6 about the Christmas bird count–

http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/stories/2008/01/05/birdcount_0106.html

I must confess to violating your copyright. I am enjoying being in Georgia vicariously and have set up a blog to remind myself of what we could be seeing at our feeder if we were there.

I take pictures at your feeders (glad you added the big one to the askcam. I’ll remove the blog if you object (or give you credit if you’d like that).

cabinbirds.blogspot.com

Barbara

Thanks for the link Barbara. That is too cool they’re citing Tom, Blue Ridge, etc.! I think that’s him in the hat with the face hidden.

Don’t worry about the copyright; it’s mainly there to protect me in the event that someone copies/republishes the entire site. Please post as many pictures as you like wherever you want!

Hello,

I’m writting you from France,

I often have a glance on your webcam and I really enjoy it a lot.

To discover new species from my office, what a pleasure !

Where is exactly Blue ridge on Georgia ?

It would be very wonderfull if there where some sounds of the ambiance of the bird feeder, so that we could also have an idea of the voice of those magnificents birds.

Keep on it and thank you very much for this website.

You’re webcam is great!

I’ve been feeding birds in my yard for almost ten years. There are all sorts of varieties. In the past week, my yard was invaded by a Northern Mockingbird. This “pest” has successfully chased away every bird that has been visiting our feeders, finches, starlings, cardinals, bluejays, etc. There’re all gone. I’ve tried moving the feeders taking them away for a couple of days, all to no avail. I would appreciate any suggestions on how to get rid of this worrysome bird.

Thanks.

I LOVE WATCHING YOUR FEEDERS. YOU HAVE BIRDS WE DONT HAVE IN CALIFORNIA. I THINK I EVEN SAW A PIG ON THE GROUND THE OTHER DAY. GREAT CAM!

Hello laurent!
Blue Ridge GA is about a 90-minute drive north of Atlanta, home to CNN and the ‘96 Olympics.

The webcam is sound-capable. However, I have to use Java for sound (which I hate) and I’m not sure the quality will be worth it. Plus, they don’t make very much noise when they’re dining. I’m working on it…testing. Thanks for visiting laurent!

Thanks Doyle Riggan!
Drop Blue Ridge Bird Seed Company a line about your pests: 1-800-584-BIRD or tstriker@tds.net.

I’ve trained my little dog to chase-off the squirrels which leads me to the last post, LOL:

Thank you BIRDWATCHER!
Which birds do you guys not have?

you said: “I THINK I EVEN SAW A PIG ON THE GROUND THE OTHER DAY.”

You had my wife and I rolling on the ground! The piggy is our little half-lab/mutt squirrel-chasing dog, “Honey Bee”. She sits at the door waiting for them to hit the feeders, then pushes the door open and takes-off after them. She’s come pretty close; I didn’t know that squirrels do the same thing skunks do until she returned from a high-speed, nose-to-tail chase with one of them. She stinks for the day but not nearly as bad as getting skunked. I’ll dig-up a photo of the pot-bellied pig, squirrel-chaser extraordinaire…

sorry about thinking your dog is a pig. we have scrub jays,
lesser goldfinch, northern mockingbird, house finches, american goldfinch, nuttles woodpecker. we have alot of birds but i dont always see all of them. i have 2 hopper feeders, one thistle feeder and one hummingbird feeder. we have alot of different birds but too many to name them all. we also have western tanager, lazuli bunting and blackheaded
grosbeak in spring. i like the bird bath addition. i have a bird bath also.

i read your question incorrect. i was a work typing the reply. we dont have tufted titmouse, northern cardinal,
carolina chikadee,red bellied woodpecker, pine warbler. we have oregon junco instead of slate colored junco. some of the bird like hairy woodpecker and downey are near my area but not in my yard. i havent seen american goldfinch this year yet and last year we had some but they move around alot. we also have annas hummingbird, allen hummingbird, rufous and black chinned. my brother is the president of a bird watching co in Austin Texas
called Victor Emmanual Nature Tours and he has taught me alot.

I LIKE THE TUBE FEEDER WITH THE SPIRAL PERCH. IT LOOKS LIKE
IT WOULD BE LESS MESSY. SMALL FEED HOLES.

Thanks for the suggestion. The Northern Mockingbird has moved on to greener pastures. All the regulars are back. We’re looking forward to the arrival of the hummingbirds. We also have a pair of mallard ducks that visit our feeders each spring. They have been visiting several times each day. Thanks for adding the hummingbird feeder to your site.

Hi Kip,
At 12:40 pm today, April 2, I saw a bluebird bringing grasses into your nest box.
This morning in my PA backyard I saw my bluebird started building her nest.
Now I have two bluebird nest boxes to watch.
What a great web(spy)cam, thank you so much.
Rachel

I think it’s safe to say they’ve decided to move in.

I have blue birds in my back yard but I can’t see inside the house so I am glad you have the bird cam so I can watch your blue birds and kinda know what is going on inside my bluebird house. I put the house out 2 years ago but this is the first sprin I have seen them stop in my yard. The female is staying inside a lot now so think she is sitting on the eggs.
Thanks for the cam!

This is my first brood, but based upon my limited, newbie observations, I’d say you’re south of here & have eggs (if she’s hanging out a lot). My gal eats some meal worms (that the male feeds her sometimes, she’s making him practice eh?), does a little housework, and hits the road for the big crib on the hill. Late mornings seem to be her favorite time, but you never know when she’s going to drop in.

Wow!!
Very cool, and educational. Great comments also from the viewers around the world…

I think I just saw a screech owl on the meal worm feeder. How cool is that.

Thank you so much for sharing your feeder cam! I just saw a Carolina wren and a yellow-throated warbler (a huge and wonderful surprise) from my desk at work. Amazing! Do you have a compilation of all the birds that have visited your feeders?

i missed the screech owl! what a bummer!

The area where you live is beautiful! you have some great pictures of the bluebirds. we have western bluebirds here. keep up the good work!

Hi Andrea: the yellow-throated warbler is so cool. I can walk right up to within two feet of the feeder and it just watches me & feeds after the other birds skeedattle.

A compilation would be a good idea. The problem is I don’t know them all yet and I’m too busy moving feeders, cams and buying and filling feed.

Cheers Rachel, Guy, Doug, Birdwatcher: thanks for watching.

I saw yellow throated warbler. I know all the birds i have seen on your cam. I’ve seen american goldfinch, carolina wren, northern cardinal, tufted titmouse, red bellied woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, dark eyed junco, song sparrow, pine warbler, yellow throated warbler, eastern bluebird, mourning dove, occasionally on old cam id seen a blue jay. carolina chickadee, white breasted nutchhatch. there are too many to name! i love this cam!

Hi Kip: It’s great that the yellow-throated warbler is so friendly. What a beautiful bird! To add to BIRDWATCHER’s list, I just saw a pair of brown-headed nuthatches moments ago! Along with the YTW, they are new birds for me that I have never seen before. I just got into birding a couple of years ago when I moved to Michigan, and their ranges don’t extend this far north.

I noticed that everybody on this blog is using their real name so my name stephanie but i love watching birds so i used birdwatcher. The yellow throated warbler is a beautiful bird. I live in california and we dont have that here but i’m still waiting for the black headed grosbeak, western tanager and lazuli bunting that we have in spring.

How cool! Yesterday there was one egg, now there are 2!

Enjoy checking in on the bluebirds & nest & eggs throughout the day. Along with just about all my friends and family! Thanks, Kim! And now in living color, lovely. We’d been wondering what color the eggs were.

Hi Kip: I just have a quick suggestion about the hummer feeder. I can’t tell for sure (?), but it looks like you’ve got the nectar mix with red dye in there. It’s generally thought to be better for the hummers just to mix your own nectar with one part white sugar, four parts water…no red dye necessary. I’ve also found that it doesn’t seem to spoil as quickly in hot weather as the commercial mixes with the dye. I put my feeders out last week, but I’m still waiting for the first hummers to arrive!

Hi Andrea,
Thanks for your concern. This is some new stuff I’m trying from the bird store. The coloring is 100% natural from hibiscus flowers. It’s also 100% sucrose. Tom assured me that it’s just fine. It takes a lot to fill up this feeder ($$), so I’ll probably go back to sugar water. Saw the first hummer on the 20th but he’s being camera-shy.

Hi Kip, I really want to thank you for all you do. My wife and I bought 2 acres in Blairsville to retire on when we get to that age. Living in Florida its so cool to be able to see the birds, the weather and Lake Blue Ridge. We absolutely love it up there and visited 6 times last year.We can’t thank you enough for these sites and keeping us in touch with our future home!!!!!!!!!!Please keep up rhe excellent work.

how cool! 5 eggs. i’m wondering what happened to all our hummers. we have them all year around here. we have annas all year and rufous, blackchinned and allens in spring.

Great birdwatching ! This is Ada watching from the U.K. There seems to be an animal walking through the woods in the background right now. Does anyone know what it is? (Good view of woodpecker too!)

view not bright enough. can barely see her. we love this site, i showed my 10 yr old daughter and she is going to show her teacher so they can watch the eggs hatch at school.

Thank you Bill. Cool place we have here huh?

Birdwatcher, I’ve only seen one so far this year and they’re definitely seasonal here. That’s awesome you get them year-round, hope they come back for you.

Welcome Ada.

Is that better Mary Ann? I’m still tweaking this cam for the low light conditions in the AM & PM. Thanks for the input! Hope the kids enjoy the show.

kip. i just noticed this morning that all the hummers are on my bottlebrush instead of feeder. i also saw a lazuli bunting this morning on top of thistle feeder. i love the way you change camara angles on your feeders. that way we get a variety of views.

here i am again. im at work watching birds. i just saw a rosebreasted grosbeak! how cool!

I wondered what that was; can’t find my book. First time I’ve seen those here and I counted at least 3. Guess they like that platform feeder I brought back from retirement. Now I have to finish the custom squirrel baffle for it. Thanks BW!

your welcome. the females look like a large sparrow. i saw one female and 2 males. i use National Geographic field guide and sibley. if your interested in tours, check out Victor Emmanual Nature Tours in Austin. My brother is the president of the company.

i love the bluebird feeder view! is that a lake in the background? what a beautiful place you live in!

Very busy time at the feeder now! I saw the rose breasted grosbeaks too ! Great ! Never seen them in my life before. Had no idea what they were at first and did not know where to go in the bird book, but found them eventually.
I love your website.
Living in England, I can watch during the evening, when it is still day time where you are. Very enjoyable. Thank you very much.

Hi Kip,
Many thanks for the cams. This afternoon at the feeder tray I saw the most beautiful rose breasted grosbeaks, now the tray is filled with gold finch. I click on the spycam and there sits the bluebird on her nest. It is delightful to visit you in Georgia.

Would really like to know what happened this morning to the Bluebird Cam. I was worried that a fox or other animal disturbed the nest. Was releived to see all was fine.

My wife’s second grade class at Main Elementery School in Beavercreek, OH is eagerly awaiting the hatchings. The entire class hopes it occurs during class hours.

Thanks for this worderful experience.

Yes, that’s Lake Blue Ridge in the background.
www.blueridgelakecam.com

The rose breasted grosbeaks are brand new to the feeder, never seen them before. Also saw an Indigo Bunting on the feeder for the first time but missed the shot.

The bluebird color cam was an afterthought. The night vision cam is securely mounted, but I had to Velcro the color cam so I wouldn’t disturb the nest. Well the Velcro glue didn’t adhere to the cam and eventually it dropped; I tacked the wire in the event this happened so the cam wouldn’t drop on the nest. I replaced the Velcro w/ All Weather “Extreme” Velcro, just need to realign the camera angle a bit. However, they get pretty excited when I fiddle w/ the box, so I’ll give them a break and readjust this afternoon.

I hope it starts during school hours too! Not to worry though, I’ll definitely capture color video w/ sound for viewing/downloading. I’m also working on streaming that cam w/ sound. However, it’s a USB device so I’m not sure it or the controller will handle the bandwidth demands.

Check out http://cabinbirds.blogspot.com

I captured the indigo bunting as well as the three grosbeaks.

Barb

Yay, you caught it. Thanks Barb!

I missed the indigo bunting. maybe i will see it today.

5 rose breasted grosbeaks on the feeder just after I arrived ! And is that a blackheaded grosbeak now (5pm)? The watching is really great again!

they dont have blackheaded grosbeaks in georgia. i live in southern california and we have blackheaded grosbeaks here. the bird you saw is probably a female rosebreasted grosbeak. they look like a large brown sparrow

Thank you Birdwatcher. I will do my homework a bit better next time… Have just looked up where Georgia actually is located. Anyway, have learned something again.

your welcome ida. my name is stephanie. that is cool watching birds from the uk.! i am at work watching them. if that bird was blue, it was probably an indigo bunting or if brown, then the female grosbeak. good birdwatching!

Hi Stephanie, I had a better look in my birdbook, and it must indeed have been the female rose breasted. But why so many males (5) and only one female? A northern cardinal turned up too, lovely.
I can recommend birdwatching abroad, what is a common bird to you is new to me. Lots of leafing through the birdbook though.
Hope to see the indigo bunting too in the near future. It is bedtime here now unfortunately.
Happy birdwatching.

happy birdwatching to you too. maybe we will sorta talk again next week!

Kip,
What is the name of the birds that have a black face and red breast?
You have 4 of them in your feeder right now..
They are cool looking…I have never see them before in FL. or BR..

Also the mocking birds nesting in our front yard that I sent you pictures of had 3 babies (beautiful little fluffy chicks) well a cat ate them all during the night last week.
They nested again in a different bush in our front yard and the cat (neighbors pet)got the female and killed her while see was sitting on the eggs. The male has abandoned the nest and seems to be looking for another mate. He has been singing all day for days now. So we saved one egg that was not cracked opened moved the nest in the house and are trying to keep it warm with a light and turning the egg every 4 to 5 hours.

Guy (Miami)
I REALLY DISLIKE CATS!!!!!

its a rosebreasted grobeak! how cool!

wow! what a beautiful cam shot of the lake!

You caught me swapping out cams. The lakecam was a PTZ (pan/tilt/zoom) cam and the feedmecam was a stationary cam. Since the birds/feeders move more than the lake in our cove, I decided to switch them out. The PTZ will not do widescreen but it should be a least a little more interesting as I can move it around and get clearer closeups on multiple feeders. I hope to make it so others can control the PTZ too.

You can always view the lake here. It’s about another 100 yards downhill from the nest cam. I still need to do some analog, walkie-talkie zooming/focusing.

that would be great if there was a pan tilt cam. what kind of bird feeder is that wooden looking flat one? or maybe its not a bird feeder.

It’s an upside down double suet feeder.

do the birds use it? or is it new? i’ve never seen it on your cam before

It’s new. I saw one upside down yesterday but I was in-&-out messing w/ cams and only caught a glance. I think the nuthatches will love it. They’re just used to the log, but when the big woodpecker’s on it, they must wait, so I’m trying to draw them out-on-a-limb.

the red bellied woodpecker is one of my favorite eastern birds. they are beautiful. we have white breasted nuthatches here too but i havent seen one in my yard for a long time. we used to have a huge oak tree that attracted alot but its gone now. most of the time i’m watching from work and not getting any work done! just kidding.

IT JUST GETS BETTER! I was so surprised when the camera went from feeder to feeder. Bluebird hatching in the nest box. This is great, I just love my visits to Georgia. I’m addicted to the “feedmecam”. Thank you, for providing such a wonderful site.

I am addicted too! this is great!

Did anybody see that animal appearing to the right of the feeder just now? Seemed big.

no i didnt, but i know he has a dog. i felt bad because i thought the dog was a pig. the camera kind of distorted the dogs face i guess

Yes, probably was the dog then. I was hoping for something more exciting. Maybe he can teach the dog to stand still in front of the camera so we can have a good look at him I like dogs too. Saw a woodpecker on the upside down feeder, but couldn’t see what kind of woodpecker it was. Not much else to see at the moment.

it could have been an animal but im not sure. i saw the woodpecker too. if it was black and white, it was a hairy woodpecker. if it was mostly white with a barred black and white back and red on top of its head, it was a red bellied woodpecker. i saw the hairy woodpecker.

oh never mind. i do see them. how cute!

Hi Kip,
I usually watch the bluebird nest from my computer at work while I’m doing other things like paperwork,… but ever since you switched to a live cam a few days ago, I can no longer get it. I can get the birdfeeder one okay, and all the other cams. I’ve asked my IT support folks for help, but obviously this is not a high priority item for them! Any idea what I can do? I miss seeing the babies!!!

Hi Terri,
Can you get it away from work, at home, etc.?

i am getting the cam now. i watch at work while doing paperwork also and its working for me. i caught the parents feeding the babies just by switching from feeder to birdhouse at just the right moment! i can also here the babies!

Hi Kip! Yes, I can get it here at home. Trouble is, I have been unable to get much computer time lately at home (my mom has been in/out of hosp and is now in a rehab facility), so I mainly use it as a sort of “screensaver’ at work while doing other chores. It’s a government job, so I am guessing it is either security filters or something like that on my computer there. Hopefully my tech support guy (thank goodness he is nice!) will have an answer for me on Monday and can help. But I love the webcam, and just saw the “control the cam” downtown cam today! AWESOME!! Eric and I are hoping to be up to our cabin a week or two after Memorial Day weekend…I’m still wishing we could work something out for that cam from our view that you looked at a while back, but we’ve had so much on our plates lately that we’ve hardly had time to think! Anyway, I’ll let you know what my tech support says, as it is obviously just something with my computer at work. THANK YOU for these webcams; I pass them along to everyone!

I have a suggestion. you should put a cam on the outside of the bluebird nestbox also, so we can see the babies fledge!

Birdwatcher, I like the way you think!
I’m at work and STILL can’t see the nest cam on my computer here, and it’s driving me crazy! My Tech Support guy has not gotten back to me about my problem…he’s busy installing a program for the pay system to several facilities; guess there are higher priorities than my bluebird watching.
I saw the babies last night on my home computer; how adorable! Thanks again Kip for making all this happen!

Terri. i couldnt see the babies a home this weekend but now i can. does your computer at work have java? i just got java at home and can see alot more cams that i used to be able to. i dont know if it will matter or not. i notice sometimes it comes in and sometimes not. iam at work also! hope it works for you soon!

birdwatcher, you read my mind. Refresh the birdhouse cam page & you’ll see the link. However, this is an old Panasonic cam w/ no zoom so it ain’t that great.

Ran out of mealworms yesterday. They chewed their way through 5000 count. Expecting a delivery today. There’s a nationwide shortage.

I’ll respond to more posts when I get a handle on all these birds–I’m birdbrained!

KIP GOT IT. CAM LOOKS FINE TO ME. THIS IS GONNA BE COOL!

Mealworms arrived! Man, they weren’t happy w/ that outage at all. Should I move the fledging cam closer?

maybe a little. i just watched bluebird fly off feeder, into the house and feed babies! all with just a few clicks!

kip sometimes the cam on the bluebird house locks up or moves. is that you adjusting the cam? i dont know much about them.

I had it set so others could control it but that wasn’t working too well so I turned it off so it would remain pointed at the house. Seems to be working ok now?

yes. its fine now. i caught the parents going in to feed the babies a awhile ago.

Well, I ran home for supper before heading off to see my mom at the rehab facility, ….the baby birds look so BIG and ready to go! But now I can’t get the fledging cam here at home Couldn’t get it at work either, and I even tried to post on this blog from work, and it wouldn’t let me this time, even though I had just posted from work a few days ago. Guess my computer just has me stumped at work.
And yes, birdwatcher, I do have Java at work, so I don’t know what the problem is. I’m off the rest of the week, so at least I can peek at home now when I am here. Would still like to see the other cam when they leave the house.

i noticed that sometimes i cant post either but eventually i can. sometimes the fledging cam gets locked and wont move. i asked kip about it and i think hes usally working on the cam when it does that. maybe your computer will work when they fledge. good luck!

>>i noticed that sometimes i cant post either but eventually i can.

That’s my fault. I have spam-blocking set up and as usual it stinks. Now that I have some good feedback I know what the problem is. Who knows how many good posts we’ve missed? Should be good to go now and I’ll suffer through the spam until I find a better plugin.

Terri, can you view YouTube(Flash) stuff at work? Can you view it from work here?

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bluebird-birdhouse-cam

PS: none of my cams are running Java, only Javascript and Flash, etc.

thats ok kip. i still think your doing a great job with the cams! i have never seen anything like this on a webcam before and i think its great!

thats a perfect shot of the bluebird house. leave the camara right where it is. its me again just checking on the babies. we had a sad thing happen around my area. a bald eagle nest with babies in it got raid by another bald eagle, knocked the babies out of the nest. the mother came back with food and the babies were gone. the babies are ok though, they are with some wildlife rehabilitators and will be ok. new vistors in my area also. red crowned wild parrots! my dog goes crazy every time she hears them. they are really loud!

i made a mistake on the condition of those eaglets. one has a cracked beak and the other has a fractured wing but they will be ok. sorry!

Yes, Kip, I can view YouTube at work. I”m not at work today, so I can’t try your link from work now, but will try next week. I only work part time (thank goodness!). But I can’t get the fledging cam at work or here at home. I get the things to the left of the screen, but not the view. But my computer here at home is old, maybe that has something to do with it..or my ignorance of computers! Eric is better at computers; any suggestions?
The babies are so beautiful! I think Eric and I may be coming up to Blue Ridge the weekend after Memorial Day, and I am SO looking forward to it! That is the FIRST thing I do, no matter what time we get in, is put the birdfeeders out, and it’s our favorite thing to do there; just watch the birds!

Hi Kip. I just read that you need to remove old nest after fledglings are gone so bluebirds can began building a new nest. If you want to read about it, i looked in google, bringing back the bluebirds or any other sight regarding nesting bluebirds. I just saw one of the bluebirds looking in the nestbox hole.

i also saw another sight called eastern bluebird management guide that says they sometimes refuse to nest in box until old nest is cleaned out. good luck!

young bluebirds from a first brood often help their parents feed a second brood! i did’t know that until and read it in Birds and Blooms magazine. Lets hope for a second!

I just saw your dog again but this time she did’nt look like a pig. hehe. She is a really cute dog!

While we’re waiting to see if more bluebirds take up residence, you might like to look in on two bald eagles in a nest in BC, Canada. They hatched the first week of May and won’t fledge till they’re 12 or 13 weeks old. Amazingly the nest is in a not-too-tall tree, right on a busy highway … you can hear the trucks streaming by but that doesn’t seem to bother the eaglets. I’ve seen mama bring small critters and tear them up for the babies, but I haven’t seen papa yet. Copy and paste the link below.

http://wavelit.com/index.php?view=EaglesNestLive

susan , check out what happened to the bald eagles nest at channel islands california. its sad but the chicks are ok.

awww. i just checked it out! what a great view of the eaglets!

i just saw a bluebird inside the bluebird box checking it out! how exiting! maybe for a another nest hopefully!

how are the bluebird babies doing? are they still around? i have seen a couple of bluebirds checking out the house but i dont know if its the same pair as before. i would love to see picture of the fledglings!

Saw a woodpecker and a jay yesterday, beautiful. And the dog (I suppose) today. Can you post a picture of him, Mr Draper, so I know how he looks unblurred? And know when it’s the dog, not something else? Haven’t seen a bluebird for a while, but then I don’t watch all the time. Still love it! Ada

Can anyone tell me the name of the largish grey bird, long tail, white chest, big round black eye.
Ada

If it has a crest on its head, its a tufted titmouse.

I saw the dog rolling around on the grass and having a great time. Cute!

Ada, If the bird has no crest, reddish feed and black spots on wings, its probably a mourning dove.

I’ll have a good look next time I see it! Thank you, Ada

Googled them both, and isn’t either of them. The tufted titmouse very cute!
ada

The birdhouse just got examined very carefully. Will they move in again? Exciting!
Ada

Hmmmm. Try googling All About Birds website, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. They have a bird guide. What was the bird doing? What was it eating? Sorry for all the questions, but i like trying to id birds!

The bluebirds might move in again.

Ada. Look up blue jay. Although they are blue, black and white, they have a long tail, are large and have a black eye, that might be what it was.

We did see a jay, but that is not the one I meant.
It is probably a very common bird. Or maybe it is the dove from a different angle I will look out for it again !
I hope the blue birds move in again!
Ada

So do i. If anyone is interested, check out James Reserve webcams. There are several nestboxes with western bluebird babies and violet green swallow i think. They are only refreshing cams but i have been checking them out while waiting for more of kips bluebirds. I like this cam much better though!

“Can anyone tell me the name of the largish grey bird, long tail, white chest, big round black eye.”

Ada - I think that might be a bluebird - I am pretty sure I saw one on the feeder earlier today. I think the lighting (maybe it was overcast?) made it look grey instead of blue on the screen.

Kate

Well Katie, I have never seen a bluebird in real life, on the few on this website so it is possible although it does look a bit more gray than the one on the nest. Never mind, interesting quest !
Thank you all for helping me. I am quite well versed in western European great tits, blue tits, coal tits, blackbirds and robins but have a lot to learn about birds in the USA.
Ada

I’ve found a couple of webcams in the UK. Very interesting birds where you live Ada.

Kate and Ada,

You might want to look at my blog in which I capture screen shots of birds at Kip’s feeder and id them.

http://cabinbirds.blogspot.com

Thank you, Barbara ! I haven’t found the id for ‘my’ bird yet. Probably something very common.
I liked the pictures with the snow. I only found this website a few months ago, so haven’t seen it in winter yet.

I just saw a juvenile cardinal on the platform feeder shoveling down the sunflower seeds. How cute!

The robin babies are getting so big that i sometimes wonder how they all fit in the nest comfortably! It looks like there going to fall out! I’m sure they’ll be fine though.

We have been watching the robin babies. The last few days there has been no video. Just wondering if it will be back up any time soon?It has been wonderful watching the babies grow.

My heart is broken. All the cameras are offline. No bird views again today.

Sorry about that folks. The main cam on the homepage is in for repair, and I’m on vacation down in Sanibel Island, FL so I’m using gotomypc to reboot the cams when they crash. Send me an email when one goes off-air and I’ll get to it between Pina Coladas.

Hi Kip! Hope you are having a great vacation! If you are a father, HAPPY FATHERS DAY! I missed the cam too but i had a feeling you were having something repaired . I’m so excited! Now there are 3 eggs and i just saw mom sitting on them for a bit. Those baby robins have really grown over the weekend! I look forward to all cams back on soon and i will be checking on them daily!

According to Cornell Lab of Ornithology All About Birds website, baby robins fledge at 13 days old. I’m guessing they are about that age because they looked about 4 or 5 days old when the cam was installed on them back on June 7th. They almost look ready to go anytime now!

Hi Kip, Hope your enjoying our state and the Pina Coladas. Definitely a big difference in the bird life.We’re heading up to the poteete campground next saturday to enjoy Lake Nottely and your great weather for 5 days.Can’t wait and really looking forward to dinner at Shoebooties!!!!

The robins are sooo cute!:D

WOW! Just stumbled onto your site today looking for screen savers of birds for my cockatiel to look at while he listens to bird sounds I downloaded for him. He loves listening to the birds singing online! HeeHee! I live in Thomasville, GA. We are going to Demorest for vacation the week of July 4th and I can’t wait. We plan to come up to BlueRidge for the day and ride the train. I can’t wait for you to get all cams up and running again so I can enjoy what I’ve been reading about! I did get to see the nest with 3 eggs and will eagerly watch it for signs of the parents. I hope you have a relaxing vacation and a Terrific Father’s Day! So glad I found your site!!!!! Paige

Happy fathers day Kip! Thanks for climbing that tree! These little guys are sure taking their sweet time!! They keep pushing on each other because the nest is too small for them. It is really too funny! One of them got irritated and started to poke his brother with his beak because his brother(or sister)kept sitting on him! They fly upwards a couple inches and end right back in the nest!!! These little guys will surprise me if the fledge tonight!!

I think they will fledge soon. I saw them doing the same thing as you did. Now the cam is down but thats ok. It will be back up soon.

One baby out 2 to go! My cockatiel,Paco, sure loves the new “bird channel” I’ve found. He gets really excited listening to the babies carry on and other birds he hears in the background! He says thanks Kip!

Hi Kip! Hope you are having a great time on Sanibel! Before we built our cabin in Blue Ridge, Sanibel was where Eric and I would always head to on vacations! Boating is wonderful there; Cayo Costa island to the north is only accessable by boat and the shelling and privacy is wonderful. But we haven’t been back since the hurricanes, so I hope the area is still as nice.
Got back from 2 weeks in Blue Ridge this Friday; had a great time as usual! Hope to be back for the 4th of July!
Was disappointed to not be able to get the bird webcams at home or at work, but will hope to be able to soon.
As always, thanks for the webcams and thanks to everyone for their posts; I learn a lot about birding from everyone!

One baby is looking at the other one like” Hurry up and go, your crowding me”!

Awww! I missed the robins babies fledging! Oh well. They were getting a little crowded in the nest. The one kept standing on top of the other one and the one on the bottom looked like he was getting annoyed.

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WHAT KIND OF POST IS THAT? THE ONE RIGHT ABOVE THIS ONE?

Thank you for sharing your robins with us. We enjoyed watching them grow up. Hope you enjoyed your stay at Sanibel. We live in Fort Myers and have property outside of Young Harris. We will be in your area next week as we head to Illinois for a family reunion. We also enjoy seeing downtown Blue Ridge, it is one of our favorite towns in the Georgia Mountains.

Could you provide an update as to the status of the Webcams. It appears that some of them are no longer active. Thanks

Doyle, look at about 15 posts up and it will explain whats going on. They will be back on soon! How exciting!

I can’t presently get connected to any of my computers/cams via gotomypc. To top it off, the DSL down here is awful and goes offline quite often which requires a call to the office to reboot the modem. However, I was able to benignly hack into their modem, so I can now reboot it myself when it goes down.

I’m giving myself an ‘F’ on running this show remotely, bit I’ve learned a lot for next time. Thanks for the patience everybody and I hope you’ll come back. I’ll post when I’m able to get back into my home computers and get things going again.

PS: Sanibel is lovely, highly recommended for a relaxing, non-commercial break.

I thought you did a great job with the cam even though your on vacation! I, for one, will be back. I give you an “A” for effort! I dont think alot of people on vacation would try to mess with webcams when their away. Now that dedication! At least we know bluebird mama layed 4 eggs this time and now the show will start all over again! How exciting! Hope your having a great time and i look forward to the cams back on when you return!

Thanks Stephanie! I like watching too, especially from beautiful Florida, so it’s just fun and no work for me when it’s time to get out of the sun.

I was able to get back to most of my machines. However, I can’t stream the robin’s nest cam because IE decided to upgrade itself and gotomypc won’t let me authorize the changes in ZoneAlarm. Don’t think there’s much to see now anyhow as they’ve fledged.

I forgot to set one PC to power up on power failure so the nightvision cam is out until I get home.

I should be able to limp the bluebird color cam along until I return (and now I can just focus on one cam, phew), then it’s time to rethink & retool…

Your welcome Kip! I’m still clicking in and out and watching the mother bluebird going in and out of the box and sitting on eggs. Its so slow at work here that i have more time to watch. Florida sounds great. Ive never been there. I look forward to your return!

Actually, I was able to get the robin’s nest cam to stream, so hopefully our cockatoo friend can at least hear them in the surrounding trees.

The only reason i missed the robins fledging is not because of the cam, but California is 3 hours behind Georgia and it looks like they fledged early in the morning so i would have had to be up before the sun came up too see them. By the time i got to work that morning, they were gone. Oh well.

Paco says “thanks” for keeping his entertainment going! I hope you have a safe trip home. I am enjoying checking in on mama bluebird. I can’t wait for the babies to hatch since this is my first time spying on them. I am going to be in the mountains near Helen june 28- july 5th. I hope they don’t hatch while I’m gone, Wahhhhh. I love it that I found your site in time to watch the Robins! That was awesome. Thanks Kip for all your hard work and creativity!
I hope you have a safe trip home.

Thank you Paige. I’m home now so things will be a bit more reliable. Tell Paco he can currently move to the homepage for bird sounds.

Hi all you bird watchers. I have a question. I noticed the eggs are right on the grid. Is there a chance the hatchlings could fall through?

Great! I Will enjoy watching the new camera placement as well!

Thank you ‘Susan in Ellijay’ for the tip on the eagles nest! I’ve been checking it out some and finally was rewarded just a minute ago with the mom feeding her babies. So Cool!!! Paco also enjoys listening to the birds in the background noise at that site, although I am surprised to hear so many birds around since mom eagle is on the hunt for baby food!

Yea! Kips back! Hope you had a great trip! Today is my b-day so what a great present to have the cam working again! Just kidding. I really do hope you had a great trip though and i’m looking forward to birdwatching at work tommorrow!

Answer to Linda Adams:
I hope they dont fall through. Maybe Kip should ask the guy at the birding store. Sometimes there are things people can do to fix the nest without disturbing the eggs.

Happy birthday Stephanie! Yes, great to have the birdfeeder cam back again. Thank you Kip. Switched it on just now and first thing I saw is a jay!

Thank you Ada! I’m so excited that the cam is back on. I didnt get time to watch today but will watch tommorrow! Have seen you on the blog lately. Its been great! Hope to see your comments more often!
Thanks again!

Linda,
Now that i think about it, the grid in the bluebird house is probably the very bottom of it with wood underneath. I dont think they would make a bluebird house that the hatchlings could fall through.
Hope that makes you feel better!

Actually, the mesh bottom of bluebird house is too reduce blowflies in the nest. I did’t know that till i looked up the Blue Ridge Seed Companys website!

Right, Stephanie, the wood floor is probably 1-inch below the mesh so I think they’ll be fine, but I will give Tom a call. Happy belated bday btw!

Thank you Kip!
The Blue Ridge Seed Company has some pretty good stuff for birding! I wish they had a company like that around my area.
I just had 2 male hooded orioles visit my oriole feeder yesterday! It was pretty cool but they are really shy. One sudden move and they are gone but they usually return later.
Do you have orioles around your area? They are beautiful birds!

Hi Kip!
Welcome back!!We are leaving our beach town in 7 days to move up your way!! We found a cute house in Mineral Bluff! Even though I don’t know anyone..I already feel like I do in a way!! Everyone on this blog is very friendly and I have even spoken with several folks from the area!! Hec..I spoke with The lady at the post office for 30 minutes the other day!! Everyone is in such a hurry down my way that it will be a refreshing change living the simple life!!! I have a bird house that I plan on hanging from my tree in the back yard!!! Can’t wait to meet some of the birds in my neighborhood(as well as the nice folks…LOL)!!!!

Hey Kip! The red bellied woodpecker’s looking for food in the feeder and its almost empty!

Oh, I forgot about the suet basket on the side. Maybe she’ll come back for suet. Sorry!

fill up the feeder, its a nice view but no birds…

I saw some birds. They are going after the suet. I saw what looked like a brown thrasher just a couple of hours ago. Also morning doves and even a squirrel!

I had to run down to Atlanta for business before I could get everything stabilized. I should have it all going again Thursday.

yea!

Well it’s about time!! Just kidding, Kip. Your business before OUR pleasure? (I hope you realize I’m just a sarcastic smarta__.) I will say, in all seriousness, I will be extremely happy when the cams are all functional again. I’m just trying to figure out how to swing a vacation to Sanibel. I think my time will be pretty well tied up for awhile trying to sell my place here in Valdosta and moving to my NEW HOUSE just north of Cleveland (”Gateway to the Mountains”). Closed last week and I can hardly wait.

Yea! Paco has missed bird TV. He has been having to watch the eagles up in Canada. And you’ve gotta work some to buy all that bird food and meal worms, RIGHT! Glad you’re back!
Wish we were moving to the mountains.

I was right! It was a brown thrasher i saw just a moment ago eating suet. Thats the first time i’ve seen one on the cam.

I was just watching the eagle’s nest webcam and got to see one of the adults feeding the eaglets. They were feasting on some relatively large mammal (about the size of a cat). The adult was a pretty awesome bird.

I just checked that out. Kinda looks like their eating a bird. I thought i saw feathers. Usually they eat fish but i think occasionally mammals.

I was watching the eagle a day or two ago and saw the adult fly in with a mouse or rat in its’ claw. It was cool! Then I watched as it tore off little strips and gently held them out for the youngsters. Then when it was down to the bones one of the babies swallowed the remaining carcas! That surprised me! Then today the adult was sitting in the nest with its’ head tucked into its’ back napping. Usually they seem to always be coming in with food or dropping in to check on the babies. I’ve never seen them just chillin’! That was sweet. Sorry bout that Kip! I know this isn’t the eagle site, hope you don’t mind, but it is so interesting spying on all these birds. I can’t wait ’til the bluebirds hatch!

I have a bluebird who has decided to nest in a cement block on our dock out in the pond. I’ve heard they are very particular about where they nest, but aparently this bird has not gotten the 411 on that! Same thing happened last year. After they moved out I removed the block, so it wouldn’t happen again, but some nut head has put TWO blocks back out there. I don’t live out there so didn’t realize they had until it was too late. Last year I nearly ran myself crazy trying to help those birds not get into the water as they fledged. Long story! I have got to buy some houses to put out there!!!

Ron, the only way we were able to swing Sanibel was to be fortunate enough to have friends who own a condo there. Still pricey though because the restaurants rocked! BTW, we almost bought a cabin in Cleveland on the Soque River adjacent to Ted Turner’s tract (great fishing).

>>Sorry bout that Kip! I know this isn’t the eagle site, hope you don’t mind, but it is so interesting spying on all these birds.

No worries Paige; eagles are birds too! I love reading about it, just wishing I could do an eagle cam. Yes, I have cam-envy. I would definitely put a house up if I were you. Two things I learned: don’t put them on a fence/wall line because snakes will just crawl right in if they find it; & put a predator baffle on your pole before they nest. I read about the need for them after the eggs were laid. It wasn’t easy juggling eggs and a baffle while the parents freaked! I thought it out for days, but after a snake-eating-eggs-whilst-schoolchildren-watched nightmare, I made it happen.

A few notes on the cams:
The main feedmecam is toast. Just out-of-warranty so I had to shell out $1400 for a new cam that should be here Wednesday. In the interim, I’m using a $100 Logitech USB cam (like the one in the birdhouse). As you all know, they crash quite often but that will at least be resolved on the main cam next week.

I figure I’ll just keep rebooting the birdhouse cam until the last brood of the year has fledged, then I’m probably going to build my own birdhouse for next spring with a more stable IP cam built right into the box as the roof. The negative to that approach is that ustream.tv, etc. don’t currently interface w/ IP cams w/o going through a pc/browser first that I know of, and that’s where things get unstable for me at least.

Well Kip, what do you think? Do you think those eggs will hatch this weekend? The last brood took about 2 weeks and this Sunday will be 2 weeks.
Yes, you do have cam envy. I think is cool. I wish i have a cam for my feeders. My daughter has a webcam but she uses it for instant messaging so she can see her friends. I’ve seen your other webcams also. I saw one with a gazebo in it. We dont have anything like that around here. I would love to come and visit Blue Ridge because from what i’ve seen, its a beautiful place.

Is that one egg in the middle with the crack across it hatching, or is that a piece of grass across it?

Oh, i guess not. The eggs are moved and the crack must have been a piece of grass.

Yea! The main cam in on! Now i can watch the feeder also.

The images of bluebirdnest cam are not very interesting, but the birdsong in the background is great! No idea what birds they are, but it sounds lovely.

Ada, it should get a little more interesting now. The female has started building a new nest.

Thanks Kip. Good news about the nest. Did not watch this afternoon, would have loved to see a nest being built. The screen is all black now, but I will have a look again tomorrow, as it is bedtime here.

Hi Kip.
I have a couple of questions about the cam. Are you still working on the main cam. I can get the refreshing one but when i click on control the cam, i get the box, java comes up(i have java), and nothing happens. I assumed you werent quite finished with it yet. At work, the same thing happens but the screen is gray. Also, with ustream, do you have to be logged in to chat? I never logged in and i have chatted with people but sometimes it seems like i type something and dont get any response. Maybe its because nobody it on at the time. Sorry for the stupid questions, but i have a lot to learn about webcams.

I am having the same problem with the cam as Stephanie. I also have no sound with this one and the video isn’t streaming. Is it supposed to? I only tuned into your site after your main cam was already broken so I don’t know what it is supposed to look like when watching the feeders. Just wondering if it’s my computer or the kinks aren’t worked out yet? Thanks!

Yes, the main cam is installed but the Java (I HATE JAVA!) “control the cam” is just temporary code that came w/ the cam. I have to get my relay host to get the new cam going w/ the same Flash “control the cam” (like the Blue Ridge cam control) that I had before the last cam fried itself. The weekend Holiday set it back a few days, but sometime this week it should stream/control like it used to.

Thank you Kip for the info. I’m glad its not my computer or anything. I’ve been watching your cam since before i thought your dog was a “pig” and it would be a bummer for me not to be able to watch it anymore. I’m addicted! I’m inside all day at work and dont get to watch birds unless its on the internet.
I’m looking forward to the streaming video again.

Thanks Kip! Nice to know what to expect etc…

Paige,
Hi. Wait till you see the main cam on. Its awesome! This is by far my favorite. Have you chatted on the bluebird nest chat yet?

Hi Stephanie,
I can’t wait to see it in action! No, I haven’t chatted yet. Have you? I did see the bluebird put some grass in the nest finally and I see this morning she has been working away at getting it ready. It amazes me how soon another family moves in! I checked on my bluebirds who are nesting in a cement block out on my fishing dock! Two babies have hatched and I guess the other 2 eggs were bad. I wish I had a cam to watch them!

I have chatted. Its fun. I wish i had bluebirds and a cam also. I am trying to chat right now but nobody seems to be on. My ustreamer number right now is 4980. Maybe we’ll chat!

HA! I thought that was you. We’ve chatted already, I was 81644! Right now I have to go fix lunch for my 2 human children! So, Maybe I’ll catch you at the bluebird house later ;o)

Oh yeah! its was just us on there. i notice if we sign out though, our number will change. I have a human child also but shes 16. Hope we do talk. I’ve talked to Kip before on it.

Yeah I noticed the # changing. My baby will be 12 on July 12th and the other will be 16 this Dec., Both girls. Teaching #1 to drive has taken 10 years off my life! See you on the chat line!

Ok. If the number changes again, we will somehow figure out its us.

Is there an intruder? Dog barking very loudly.

maybe dog is barking at a squirrel. hehe.

I once met a dog who finally caught a squirrel. He (the dog) had then to be taken to the vet’s because the squirrel bit him My friend Luke the golden retriever (a do a bit of dogminding for friends) recently caught a hedgehog, but then dropped it. Not as soft as he thought it was. Fortunately he does not go after the birds.

My dog doesnt go after birds either, but she barks like crazy
when the red crowned parrots fly over my house!

Little titmouse looks so sad. No water in the birdbath:(

I’m glad the squirrel bit the dog. I happen to love the furry critters and have raised quite a few orphaned ones. They are very affectionate and sweet but as with any wild animal you have to read their body language and know when they are feeling threatened. That is when you leave them alone!

Hi Paige!
That was a great chat we had! Lets do it again sometime!

For sure.It was lots of fun! I had just left the above comment when i got a knock at my door and had to go, Sorry ’bout that.

Thats ok. I know i’ll be checking out the chat again tommorrow. I do everyday. Maybe we’ll talk again tommorrow!

I wouldn’t mind having parrots fly over my house! I looked it up in the birdbook, nice colours!

Me too! I didn’t know we had wild parrots in the USA. They are very pretty!

They have been in around for along time but never over my house! Its really cool. We have about 6 of them so far and they fly over, squawk real loud and land in the tree. It drives my dog crazy! Shes blind but she still runs outside barking! Its kinda funny! I’ve seen flocks of about 50 of them near my workplace.

Actually, I think the parrots are in Ft. Lauderdale also. Thats what my bird guide says.

Hi Kip.
Nice chatting with you. I have a question. Once the ustream times out, how do you get back on to chat? It seems like it goes for about 1 1/2 hours, then when i go back in, i can type but there isnt any response. It seems like a person can only chat once a day. Is that supposed to happen?

How cool. I see a lizard on a rock next to the bird bath!

cool steph! I can get back on here now but can’t email til i get my virus protection working again. I was gone today. Did Kip ever see the female bird around?

Hi Paige! I hope you get your e mail fixed. I tried to e mail the those pictures and they wouldnt go:(. I just did it again and i think they went.
Try to go on the chat again if you can. If not, i hope to talk to you soon.
Havent talked to Kip since Friday and he hadnt seen the female yet. I know he’ll keep us posted though.

Hey y’all!
I never did see the mom and the dad wasn’t around either, but I left for a family vacation Saturday the 12th. I’m assuming something got her.

Ironically, when I first stepped out on the porch of the house we’re renting on Hilton Head Island, there were a pair of bluebirds on the nearest limb checking me out and chirping away. Didn’t know they liked palm trees and the beach too.

I’m guessing that’s probably it for the bluebird nest cam for this season, but I’m going to get the mealworms going on the bluebird feeder when I return to hopefully draw in some of the first brood. I’m also thinking of doing an owl nest cam or something to keep the site interesting.

Thanks for tuning in!

Hi Kip!
Hope your having a great time on vacation!
An owl nest cam would be cool! Any kind of bird cam is interesting to me. I just hope whatever kind of cam it is has the chat room on it:) That was awesome! An oriole feeder might be kind of cool on your cam but it might be too late in the summer. I know we have them here during the summer. A couple of years ago, a pair of hooded orioles visited my feeder all the way into August. They were bring their baby and also feeding a brown headed cowbird baby. I’ve seen them a couple of times during July this year also.

Thanks for keeping us posted. Maybe we’ll talk on chat again when you return:)

Kip, I meant to tell you on my last post how much i appreciate the shows youve given us with all your cams. I had a feeling you were gone someplace but you deserve it!
Thanks again!

Kip - we expect a full bird list from your trip to Hilton Head. No shirking of birder duties!

My purple martins fledged on Friday the 11th. They’ve visited a few times, but have definitely left the nest. Apparently they’re flying fine and have learned to catch lunch on the wing. They’ll be headed to South America in the next week or two, not to return until March. Let’s talk about a martin webcam next spring when my birds come back, hopefully with others to fill up my house and gourds.

Kip-

Go to www.theowlcam.com for information on the barn owl boxes. They have a description of where to locate an owl box.

Thank you for a summer of bluebird fun!

Hi Kip!
I was just checking out different websites on owls also. There are 4 different species of owls that use boxes depending on what species is in your area. Barn owl, eastern screech owl, barred owl and northern saw whet owl. It kind of looks like barn owl or screech owl would be the most likely. Barn owls nest from Mar-Aug, and screech owls start in Feb. I saw a website earlier this year called Bobs Backyard Squirrel Cam. He had an eastern screech owl cam but it was really hard to see clearly and it was refreshing. They went from Mar-May. Whatever kind of cam you come up with would be great though. I know its probably alot of work but it looks like you really enjoy it and i think everybody else does also.
Hope you saw alot of good birds on vacation and i look forward to your return.

Tom, I shirked. I spend most of the day at the beach, plus the little buggers are difficult to see in the rich foliage of Sea Pines, and I’m pretty much clueless on song identification and coastal birds. We did see a night-hunting, egret-looking bird while watching the moon rise. I’ll try to find out what it was; it had to be 4-feet tall and looked dark gray, but it was difficult to tell with the back lit moon. I’ll have a hard time picking him out of a lineup. Be happy to help w/ the cam.

Thanks for the owl stuff Rufus & Stephanie! We don’t get orioles here btw.

Hi Kip!
Thanks for the bird report! Im also clueless with coastal birds:). I dont know much about them.
Too bad you dont get orioles there, they are beautiful birds but you have other birds just as pretty. Now im curious about the egretlooking bird. I’m going to have to check that out. You might want to look at a website called All About Birds. Its the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website. It might help with ID.
I have a question for you. Where do you get your suet for the suet log? I know some people make there own but it seems like alot of trouble. I’d rather just buy it. The reason im asking is because i have a suet basket also and i have yet to attract a woodpecker to it. All that eats my suet is sparrows and house finches. Do you think the birds like a suet basket better or the log? I m thinking putting up a log but just wanted your opinion.
Thanks:)

Kip,
Maybe a Great Blue Heron?

Kip
I’ll bet Rons right! Maybe thats what is was.

I usually just get the block suet from Tom and cut it into thirds with a butcher knife and cram it in the hole. It’s messy but the ones pre-made for the log are a bit pricey, though less mess. The birds and definitely the woodpeckers prefer the log over the basket. However, the next log I get will be twice as long.

That reminds me: the woodpeckers have been scarce too lately.

Thank you! Thats a good idea. I never thought of doing that. I usually just buy block suet also and i have a suet basket just like yours hanging from a peach tree in the corner of the garage. I’ve never seen the pre-made ones but i does sound easier. During the winter, the peach tree doesnt have any leaves so the basket is more visable, but now during the summer, its hidden. Maybe its a bad location for it so the woodpeckers(we have nuttles woodpeckers here) dont see it. I think we have downey and hairy woodpeckers also but ive never seen one in my yard. Maybe i will have to have my husband make me a suet log now. It looks pretty easy, just use a hole saw for the holes, right?
Yes, woodpeckers around here are scarce also and the birdwatching is kinda slow everywhere. I think when fall comes we’ll see some different birds again.
Bye the way, i saw your one hummingbird on the feeder the other day:) and your dog running around near the platform feeder. It looks like she forgot her stick on the ground.lol

Just get a cedar log fence post and drill away. BTW, I finally got the non-java “control the cam” page working. Much better frame rate and no messy java (requires Adobe Flash Player):

http://feedmecam.com/video/

Hi Kip!
I just noticed you changed back to the other cam! I was watching not more than 10 minutes ago and all of the sudden the cam changed!:) Thats cool! This one streams a little better. The only time i get sound is if i go to ustream tv and find the birdhouse cam. That has sound but for some reason, being on the website doesnt but thats ok bacause now i can hear the cardinals in the background! I love cardinals!

oh bye the way, with the sound on i almost couldnt tell whether i was hearing my birds in my backyard or yours.lol

To get the best frame rate, the main cam doesn’t stream sound. That’s why I leave the ustream.tv going.

Oh.ok. I thought is was something with my computer at home but im glad its not. I like the way this cam is better i think. I will be going to work soon and will watch from work while working as usual. Im going to try the suet log.
Right now i hear cars and a bumping sound. lol. But i also hear lots of birds. I
Thanks again! I wish i could put a smiley but all i can do on this computer is this.:)

Hi Kip,

I am glad the bigger bird cam pictures are back. It makes it much easier to id your visitors!

Barbara

Yea! Feeders are filled!

Hi Kip - with all of your experience I wonder if you can assist a newbie? We have several duck boxes set up on a pond on our Oregon property. We have no wildlife cam other than a little Stealth which is not sensitive enough to capture birds. I wait until the season is past then inspect and clean out the houses. This year, one had been occupied by wood ducks and another revealed a tragedy.

Inside we found the remains of a beautiful male Hooded Merganser and 7 eggs that were partially developed. It will always be a mystery what happened - for one thing, the male Hoodie doesn’t incubate eggs. All we could fathom was he was injured and took refuge in the box thereby obstructing the female’s entry and later died. We would have been aware of this had we had something set up as you do here.

What do you suggest as a fairly simple set-up for us to start with? I notice you mentioned eBay. If you have anything used you want to sell, that would be great. At this point we are looking to keep an eye on our kids, not have anything fancy (or high $$). We also have about 60 swallow/wren houses on the property as well as a few bat boxes, all occupied. This week for the first time in 30 years here we saw purple martins. They are not so common in the west so we are building houses for them for next year. We are installing a trap door on the bottoms to usurp any starlings that try to move in!

I attempted to email you through this page and got nowhere. I am using Firefox on a Mac PowerBook G4, in case that means anything.

Thanks in advance for any advice, etc!

Robin

Barbara
That picture you got of the ruby throat on Kips feeder is
beautiful! Kip, I hope you saw it! The other pictures
you’ve taken are great too! Its nice to have archive
pictures to look back on.

Hey Kip!
I just saw the coolest thing on your cam! I was moving the
cam around near the bird bath and saw a snake on the ground!
I think there was a squirrel near the bath also. I didnt
know i could move the cam around with the arrows until
just a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been seeing squirrels
on the ground also by moving the cam. I dont really
like snakes that much but it was fun to see it slithering
over the rocks!

That’s hilarious Stephanie. That snake scared the daylights out of me when I was refilling the birdbath a few weeks ago. I scared him too as I barely caught a glimpse of him. He appeared non-poisonous.

I have the squirrels relegated to the ground (for now). They were jumping up on the seed catcher bowl on the base of the finch feeder so I moved it and put the old Droll Yankees finch feeder there.

I am glad the bigger bird cam pictures are back. It makes it much easier to id your visitors!

Barbara, I had to wrestle with this new cam to get the video streaming at medium size whilst uploading a large still shot. Have you tried the snapshot button on the streaming page? Seems to work pretty well for me but I can’t get it to pump out a larger image.

Robin, I would go with a birdhouse spycam. It’s not as pretty of a picture as some of the Logitech USB cams I use, but 100% reliable and you can hook it to your VCR, Mac, PC, etc. I have the same cam as the $95 one but it’s black & white/nightvision instead of their new full-color one. I’d sell it to you for $45 if you’re interested. They both come with 100′ of cord but you can buy 100′ extensions for $35.

Hey Kip!
Thats hilarious also! I can just picture you filling
the birdbath, minding your own business and then,
AHHHH!!!a snake.lol. Right now im laughing so hard that
im having trouble typing this.lol. Btw, did you read
the e mail i sent you about big foot?lol.
Talk to ya later.:)

Have a nice labor day Kip!

Thanks Stephanie. Did you have a good one? I relaxed, pretty boring.

Hi Kip
Mine was ok. I didnt do anything. Pretty boring also.
I was on vacation all last week and didnt do anything.
Are you having problems with the cam today? I noticed
the screen was black all day. Hope it will be up soon!

Yes, the streaming on all of my cams was down today. They got it going again this evening so everything should be back to normal. Boring around the feeders huh? Fortunately, a few more hummingbirds have joined the battle with the hornets, but other than that it’s pretty quiet. How are things around your feeders?

I noticed it was on right after i posted. Yeah, kinda
boring but i still like seeing your cardinals and hairy
woodpeckers. I have alot of hummingbirds. I’ve been
filling the feeder about every other day. I have 2 of
them but they are both smaller than yours. Tons of house finches and sparrows. Btw, i bought a seed hoop from Toms store to catch the seed on the ground under the feeder. Its such a mess to clean up. I called Toms store last weekend and just received the hoop today. I think it will work pretty good. If i does, im going to call him and order another one for the other feeder. Oh, alot of lesser goldfinch on the thistle
feeder also. I think the bird activity will pick up
in a month or so. Fall migration is coming soon.

How cool! First time i’ve seen a jay in the birdbath!

The suet log is so chocked full of suet! I bet the woodpeckers are loving that!

Hi Stephanie, just saying hello from a very autumnal england. Went to the Netherlands last week and saw 2 big flocks of lapwings, and a stork. Great!

Hi Ada!
Haven’t seen you post for awhile. Hope you had a good time in the Netherlands. I was on vacation last week.
Birdwatching has been kinda slow here in the states but
the hummingbird activity has been awesome! Kip has alot
of hummingbirds coming to his feeder and i have alot coming to mine also. I’m going to google lapwings. Take care.

I just watched 2 juvie cardinals taking a bath!

Hi Kip! Whats up! I just saw swallows flying over my house yesterday! I’ve never seen them over my house before, just flying around under the freeways overpasses usually. I thought is was kind of neat.
I have no idea what kind they were, they were too high
up to tell. Hope your doing well.

Hey Stephanie! They’re cool to watch fly. I was invaded by a swarm of birds that I’ve never seen here before. They darted around like swallows but much larger, and they were playing air chicken with each other in some sort of dog fight, mating ritual.

They flew around the house at top speed, pulling Gs, non-stop for 30-minutes. I grabbed the book and identified them as “Nighthawks“, from the white stripe on each wing. Cool show.

Common Nighthawk

Thats cool! I saw a night hawk this summer out in the desert at my cousins house. It was just getting dark and it was darting around looking for bugs also, but i cant remember which nighthawk it was. I forgot to tell
you that i also saw about 70 or so swainsons hawks right above my house during the spring. They were flying around in a funnel shaped form. Its was amazing!
I think they were migrating. As im typing this, i just
heard a nuttles woodpecker call someplace in the yard.
He keeps making a high pitched prrrrt sound as hes flying by.
I think im the only one posting on here. Probably because bird watching is slow right now but i will pick up. See ya!

Hi Kip! I haven’t seen too many birds on the feeders! What’s up? Too much natural food out there so they aren’t as hungry? I know it is normal for there to be less birds during the summer months, but it just seems like there is REALLY a low number of birds at the feeders lately. What’s your opinion (or Tom’s?)?
Thanks and hope you are doing well!

Yes, it’s been really boring at the feeders; nobody here but us tit mice! Perhaps they’re eating in Ellijay so they can have a beer with their sunflower seed. I dunno, seems way slower than this time last year. Nothing different in the feeder environment except the grass growing…

Oh, I did capture a VIP today, so hopefully things will pick up.

Got a good chuckle at your comment about the birds wanting a beer with their seed!…can’t say that I blame them!
Hope to see more birds soon, along with the autumn colors. We hope to be up soon for a visit and we can’t wait!
Thanks for keeping the cams going!

By the way…it seems like the birds were just waiting for me to post a complaint about there not being many birds at the feeders, because it seems that since I posted that, there has been a lot more activity! But that is GOOD! I enjoy them so much while I’m at my desk working!

Is there something more I need to do to control the streaming video camera? I get the picture and click the button on the right, but nothing happens. I’m a long time birder in FL and love this site!

I rebooted and seems to be working now. Thanks Carolyn!

Thank you for helping. We here in the panhandle of FL are 2 to 3 weeks different seasonally. Seeing that delights me as a nature watcher!

Hi Kip! I notice that the hummingbird feeder is not up on the webcam. Are the hummers all gone? Or is there some other reason you took that feeder down? We plan to be up there this week for just a short visit, and you’ve got me wondering if I should put my hummer feeders out or not. I still don’t know all the habits of the birds and nature up there, but I’m learning. And if you still ever wanted to consider a webcam from our deck let us know. Thanks for the webcams you have up; it is always so nice to see what the current temperature is, what the colors are like on the trees, and what birds are busy at what feeders! Makes me feel as if I am there.

Hi Kip!
I noticed that the main cam, not streaming one, was pointed to a different feeder. I only saw the bottom of it for a second. It looked like a tube feeder with sunflower seed in it. Any chance we’ll be able to point the cam at it using control the cam? I think that would be kinda cool!

Hi Kip! I like the new Yankee flipper. The chickadees and titmice seem to like it too. The Juncos arrived at my feeder the other day, so winter must be on its way.

Hi again Kip!
Thats the feeder i saw! Thank you! I’ve already seen titimice and chickadees on it. I agree with Andrea, i think they like it. The notice the leaves are starting to change around your area also. It so pretty so see them on the cam
behind and around the feeders.

I agree about the new Yankee Flipper…I think the birds really like it. Wish I could see a squirrel on it though…it is a hoot to watch the video in Tom’s store! And I also agree about how it is nice to see the leaves changing. I mainly do that a lot now; take control of the cams and try to get the best shot of a lot of trees. If you have another selection to add on a webcam, my request would be a good view of trees, so we, that are not up there, can see what the current season is like. I’m excited because we plan to be up to our cabin again this coming week for a short trip; always LOVE to come up! And like I said Kip, if you are ever still interested in putting a webcam from our deck, we now have internet at the cabin. Anyway, one question to all; what is the best thing to attract woodpeckers? I sometimes buy one of those seedbells and they have liked that in the past, but I have never put out any kind of suet type of food. I also want something that is not too messy. Any advice?

Hi Kip!
Happy Halloween!lol! The leaves around your area are halloween colors!
Terri, woodpeckers are normally attracted to suet and black oil sunflower which is what i see Kip using. He is pretty good and attracting them from what i’ve seen on the cam. I’ve used a suet basket before like he does, but i dont have the same type of woodpeckers in my area so they never come to mine. I think Kip told me the suet log works better than the basket. Good Luck!

The suet log is the woodpecker’s favorite so far. You can also buy suet that’s pre-cut (less mess) for the logs from Tom. I usually just cut from the cakes with gloves and a butcher knife.

I brought the Yankee Flipper out of retirement and they’re liking it. They seem to be more excited around it than the platform feeder. I need to make a trip to Tom’s and get some more peanuts and shelled sunflower.

Yes, the leaves are getting nice. Great idea on setting up a leaf-viewing preset on the cam, thanks. Don’t forget to check out the goblins in the Halloween Safe Zone on the Blue Ridge, Ga cam tonight. Happy Halloween!

Wow Kip!! What a great town cam!! Looks like your having quite a party down there! Lots of people and costumes!!
Thanks for the view!!

Hey Kip! I like you new webpage design! Nice! And thank you for a view of the fall leaves!!

Thanks Stephanie! BTW, this new Wordpress theme has gravatars enabled. So if you go to gravatar.com and upload a photo that’s associated with the email account you use here, it should appear by your name on comments.

Ok! Thanks Kip! Thats pretty cool! I’ll check that out!

Hi Kip!
Have your dark eyed juncos returned yet? I’m just starting to see my oregon juncos back again. When i see them, thats an indication that fall and winter has arrived. I’m also hearing the yellow rumped warblers but havent seen one yet. All my feeders are starting to get busy again after this last rain we had. Hope your are too!

Excellent viewing at the Yankee Flipper this evening…chickadees and titmouse. I think it is wonderful to be able to control the cam and see the different aspects. Thank you for sharing!

I like the new pre-sets for the Fall colors!…thanks!

Just saw a Hairy Woodpecker on the log feeder–neat to see!

Kip! That shot of the falls leaves is beautiful!!! So red!!!!
Thanks!!!

Well, we just got back from a long weekend up in Blue Ridge….the Fall colors were spectacular, but we had the fewest birds in the feeders that I have ever had. Birdman Tom said that there is plenty of food in the wild right now, which I guess is true, but I sure did miss the birds at my feeders! Will be back again soon, and hope to see more birds then!

Hi Kip! Just wondering if you ever see many finches on the finch feeder (I’ve only seen them once on there, although I saw several goldfinches in the platform feeder today)? My parents had trouble with a similar type of feeder…it seemed they couldn’t get the thistle out of the ports. In my experience, they seem to really prefer the sock-type feeder that I have over the regular thistle feeder. Have you tried a sock feeder in the past?

Hi Kip!
Busy feeder today! I think i saw a female pine warbler on the platform feeder and i think i’ve seen one before on your feeder last winter. How cool!

Well the colors have come & gone so I removed the presets.

Terri, aside from being the titmouse capitol of the world, things have been relatively slow around my feeders for a couple of months now. The fall colors were great this year, huh?

Andrea, I’m thinking my thistle might be getting too old; it’s the bottom of the summer bucket. I’m long overdue for a restock at Tom’s. However, sometimes a port or two will get clogged with these feeders; I just give it a good shake and they’re back in business. I’ll have to try a sock feeder, always nice to get something different on the cam, thanks. How do you keep it dry though? My finch feeder has a Plexiglas canopy on top, guess I could do something like that…

Stephanie, the Dark-eyed Junco is the one that I thought might be an Eastern Phoebe, but it just wasn’t the same body shape/coloring. Thanks, now I know for sure. One Dark-eyed Junco is definitely back, has been for a month I guess. He’s cool, love learning new birds…

Was the pine warbler feeding on suet or seed? Sure it wasn’t a goldfinch with winter colors?

Hi Kip! It was feeding on the seed. It definately wasnt a american goldfinch. I know those get dull during the winter and there was one feeding along with the pine warbler.
I dont see it very often but like i said before, i did see it last winter on your platform feeder. The markings were different that the goldfinches also. This bird had a longer bill and a faint yellow stripe above the eye. Is there a way i could snap a picture of it off your cam and send it to you in a e mail next time i see it?
Btw, i have a thistle feeder too, and the seed get wet when it rains but they eat it so fast, it doesnt have time to go bad. Heres the feed i have and i like it.http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754765

Btw, Kip i forgot to mention, our juncos here are the oregon variety, but one year we had a slate colored junco, which is the ones you have there, in with the oregons. It was pretty cool because slate is rare in my area but he stuck around for about a week or so before moving on. Juncos are confusing because they are all dark eyed juncos but different varieties in different parts of the country but i love them. They used to be my fathers favorite bird!

Busy day at your feeders today! Just saw a woodpecker at the log, a male cardinal at the platform, and then the other standards (titmouse) here and there too.
Yes, Kip, this were the best colors that we have seen in Blue Ridge since we built our cabin a few years ago. Usually we are up here just prior to peak or right after, but we caught it right on this last visit. Looks like the colors are about gone, but it looks like things are picking up on the feeders! Like I said, I have never seen so few birds at mine before, but yes, we did have the usual titmouse, and of course a chickadee and nuthatch too at times. But nothing else. I”m sure there’ll be more when we come up again soon. I’m so looking forward to it! (as always)

Hi Kip,

Like Stephanie said, the goldfinches empty the thistle sock so fast, it doesn’t seem to be a problem. I also live up in Michigan, and I generally only put the sock out once it’s cold and most of our precipitation is of the frozen variety. I may have spoken too soon, though, I just saw a goldfinch on your feeder. Stephanie, what time of day did you see the pine warbler? I’d be excited to see it, too. Another possibility is a pine siskin, but your description does fit better with a pine warbler.

Yes, i did Andrea!:D I know it wasnt a pine siskin because i have them all over my feeder also. I dont have pine warblers here in California though and it fit the descriptions perfectly!
I dont remember the exact time but i think it was mid morning, my time so about 1 or 2 maybe, east coast time. I would like to take a picture of it off the cam next time i see it but i havent figured out how to do that yet.lol. Hopefully i will see it again. Last year i saw it quite a bit on the feeder along with the goldfinches so maybe it will return.

Stephanie, you should see a blue “SNAPSHOT” button at the top right corner of the video cam screen. At Internet speeds, you kind of have to anticipate & click it a second or so before the shot you want arrives, if you will.

That should open a new browser window with the captured image. Right-click on the image, then “save picture as” in Internet Explorer or “save image as” in Firefox. Email it to me and I’ll post Mr. [sneaky] Pine Warbler on the blog.

Yes, i see the snapshot button and i did snap a picture just practicing, but my workplace has outlook express mail and im not set up for that, so im trying figure out how to get it to my e mail, from outlook express, which is yahoo, and then e mail it to you. My work computer sure doesnt make it easy for me.lol but im sure going to try!! I want you to see that bird! If that doesnt work, i’ll watch from home on a weekend, and it will be much easier. I’ll do my best!

Kip, whats that white stuff in the bird bath? It almost looks like ice!

Stephanie, ice would probably be a pretty good bet since the temps last night were upper teens to low 20’s across most of north GA. We had mid to upper 20’s here in south GA, about 10 miles north of the FL state line (BRRRRRR).

Wow! Thats cold Ron! Its still in the 80s here in Southern California but temps are starting drop now.

Thanks Ron,
Yes, that would be ice, S. It was 21.6F (low) on the weather station that’s mounted to the same pole as the web cam. A heated birdbath is in the works, but I thought I could postpone it until ‘09. It’s been about ~20 degrees below average at night lately.

Kip,
How does one get an avatar on this forum?

Ron, if you scroll up a little, Kip posted a link. gravatar.com and upload a photo. I havent done it yet but i will soon. I signed up but havent uploaded a photo yet. Wow Kip! Thats pretty cold!! brrrrr!!!

Well, I guess I have changed my name. Let’s see if this works.

Capitalized r perhaps?

Now it works as just Ron.

Cool picture Ron!! Now i’ll have to try that!

Well Kip, Now Mr Sneaky must be hiding someplace because i havent seen him for a few days but when he does show up again, hopefully i’ll be watching and will be able to snap his picture. I saw him quite a bit last winter on the cam so i think he’ll be back!

I am enjoying your web cam, I especially like the new Yankee Flipper. Today there was alot of activity and the titmouse and chickadee are so busy. What bird feed do you have in the Flipper today?
We had our 1st snowfall in central PA today, an early start this year.
Thank you so much for a great site.

Thanks Stephanie. That picture was taken in the Georgia mountains back in August (a little warmer then). Motorcycling in the mountains is what is making me move up there. There are some awesome roads between where I’m moving and where Kip is.

From what i’ve seen on Kips cam and his other website, the Georgia mountains are beautiful!! I really like the fall colors also!

Hi Kip!! Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Hi Rachel, the current bird feed is just plain sunflower seed. The birds are going to have to make a few sacrifices in this economy too, though I put out the last of the spendy peanuts & shelled sunflower on the platform for Thanksgiving.

See you got the gravatar going Ron. Where are you moving to?

Hi Stephanie, Happy Thanksgiving! Definitely, my favorite holiday: all you have to do is eat and try to stay awake.

Kip!! You have 2 bluebirds going inside the blue bird house right now!! I tried to take a pic, but i wasnt fast enough. They are probably just using it to sleep in but i thought it was really cool!

At Birdsong Nature Center in S. GA they had what I think they called a “huddle house.” It was a larger nest box because Bluebirds will huddle together to survive very cold weather.

I’m in the FL panhandle and we usually have Goldfinches arrive about this time. They’re dingy and turn to breeding plumage before they leave us the first part of May. Haven’t seen them yet this year (except on Kip’s feeder)!

Hi Carolyn! That interesting. I didnt know about the huddle house and i know that kips bluebirds were probably just using it to sleep in but its fun to watch them go in and out.
Yes, the american goldfinches do turn dull during the winter. I’ve had them on my feeder just when they were starting to get their breeding plumage and then a couple weeks later, they come back bright yellow! Some people wonder where their goldfinches went during the winter and chances are, they never left. They just dont recognize them.

Hi Kip,

Wow! I just counted 7 goldfinches on your finch feeder (and 4 on the platform feeder), so it seems they do actually like that feeder. We’re getting our first substantial snowstorm in Michigan, so I’m sure my feeders are busy (but I’m stuck at work ). The other morning, I saw two new species (new for my feeders) in my yard, a tufted titmouse (finally!) and an American tree sparrow. We also have downy woodpeckers (an occasional hairy or red-bellied), chickadees, goldfinches, house finches, blue jays, white-breasted nuthatches, crows, cardinals, and a few of my less favorite non-natives, starlings and house sparrows. I am hoping for a red-breasted nuthatch someday.

Hi Kip,
We’re moving about 3 miles north of Cleveland just off 129 (highway to Blairsville). We will be about 9 miles from Helen. Great motorcycle riding roads up there!!

Wow, what a beautiful scene this morning!! Enough snow to feel wintry without being enough to create big problems. We had to come back to Valdosta yesterday so we didn’t get to stay for the snow.

Kip!! Its so pretty!! Its snowing!! Its so fun to watch the snow fall with the birds feeding. The cardinals look beautiful in the snow!! I love it!!!!!

The Brasstown Bald webcams are giving some awesome views this morning.

I hate that I cannot access the Brasstown Bald webcam anymore from work!
My mind is still in Blue Ridge today, even though my body is back at work and a long way away. We left yesterday after an awesome Thanksgiving time up at the cabin…and was thrilled to see the snow yesterday morning. Everything was coated well on our mountain along Aska; it was SO hard to leave!
Was really disappointed at the lack of birds again; thought we would see more this trip, but there was only a very rare chickadee or titmouse in my Sky Cafe feeder. I bet they start going to feeders more now that the weather has turned colder. I usually feel really guilty bringing the feeders back inside, but this time I don’t think the birds missed them at all. But I’m sure they would if we were there full time; sure hope to be one day soon!

Looks like Kip’s birdbath has a hard water problem this morning!!!!

Our first Goldfinch that will spend the winter in FL showed up today!

Kip, how wonderful to see 8 species of birds–Goldfinch, Chickadee, Titmouse, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-breasted Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Pine Siskin, Dove–on a Saturday morning without getting out in 24 degree weather!

Correction:
I should have said Red-bellied Woodpecker. It was a male. On the male the red part on his head goes all the way to his beak. On the female it stops at the top of her head.

Looks really windy in Blue Ridge today. I see quite a bit of rain is predicted for the next couple of days.

Eight happy Goldfinches on the thisle feeder!

Hey,

I’m from Cork - Ireland and have gotten addicted to this camera lately. I’ll be moving to Florida next summer and am trying to get to grips with bird id in america. This site has helped a lot and is a great system you have up and running - the best I could find on the net. Species so far are : red bellied and downy woodpeckers, carolina chickadee, tufted titmouse, northern cardinal, pine siskin, white breasted nuthatch, brown headed nuthatch, american goldfinch. Am I missing many species?

All the best,

Seán

Sean: Where about in Florida are you moving to? I am in the central part of Florida (until I can retire/move to our cabin in Blue Ridge, where this webcam is at). I get a lot of Mourning Doves, and sometimes up in Blue Ridge too. In Florida too there are usually a lot of Blue Jays, house wrens, and sparrows. You can see Red Wing Blackbirds, Purple Martins (one of my favorites) and Robins too. If you are near the beach there are many beach-related birds; we get seagulls even in Orlando. But don’t forget one of the most fascinating birds to see….a hummingbird! They are amazing! I hope you have a good move over here and feel welcomed; I lived in Europe for 5 years and it was an amazing experience; never made it to Ireland but hope to one day.

Sean, I agree with Terri about FL birding. (I’m in the panhandle part.) We also get migratory birds from our northern states–some stay with us until spring and some go on to S. America. I’ve been calling one of the woodpeckers a Hairy. Downies and Hairies differ in bill length and the outer edges of their tails. I haven’t had a good enough look to be sure but maybe you could add that species to your list also!

Hi Kip! Is there anyway we can e-mail you pictures that we take on your webcam? I snapped a picture of a Pine Siskin on the finch feeder the other day. It might be nice if someday you have a thread on here with pictures of all the species that show up to your feeders (including Mr. Sneaky Pine Warbler, once Stephanie catches him on the feeder again ).

Hi Kip and Andrea!
Now im starting wonder if the pine warbler i saw was an orange crowned warbler instead! I think im going to have to get another look to be able to tell. I looked in my guide and they look pretty similar! Andrea, i think if you click on the snap shot button on the cam, it gives you an option to save and e mail picture, thats what Kip told me but my computer at work is set up with outlook express and my supervisor didnt set me personally up with it so im not sure how to get it into my personal e mail. At home, it would work but not here at work. I hope you can get a picture for him! Good luck!!

I just saw a brown headed nutchatch, american goldfinches, carolina chickadees and tufted titmouse on the yankee droll feeder all at once! How cool! They are really enjoying it!

This site is the BEST !! .. Woody’s .. Titmice .. Goldfinches ..

Hi All … Just wanted to say Hi to everyone .. My name is Brian .. I am a birder from Central Penna … I come to this came everyday .. But I have a question .. it will shut down after abit ? Seems like I have to get out and come back in to start the cams up again

Nice site .. I LOVE IT !!

Brian

Brian, when that happens to me I do “refresh” and it comes back. This site is one of my joys this Christmas time. It’s the first one I check each day. Thank you, Kip, for this “gift.”

Yes

I must agree .. when I come home from work .. I’ts the first thing I look at .. I get up early so it’s not light enough .. But when I get home 330 pm Eastern Time .. It’s the first thing I bring up on the computer.

I live in SE Penna and Enjoy Birding .. This is a real nice treat, Thank You Kip

Brian: So what birds do you see where you live? Must be pretty cold there now! Kip has other webcams in the area of Blue Ridge, GA….all of them are “must sees” for me every day. We vacation there often and hope to retire there one day. It is a great place with nice folks and very relaxing; I could just sit on our deck and watch the birds all day long!

Phew, I have some catching-up on replies to do but Christmas has me swamped. Plus I got hooked up on Facebook and have been having mini elementary, high school, and college reunions. Facebook is really cool, but if you already have too many daily computer tasks to do, you might want to hold off on joining. It’s a time-consumer!

Thanks for all of the wonderful comments; I always read them all. Happy Holidays everyone!

Hi Kip! Hope you a have a wonderful Holiday!!!!

Hi Terri

I live in SE Penna .. But I have a cabin in Central Penna, where I HOPE to Retire to one day .. In The Allegheny Mountains .. I bird here in the outskirts of Se Penna .. And bird also in Central .. I see .. Titmice .. Cardinals .. White-Breasted Nuthatches .. Downy .. Hairy .. Red-Bellied and Pilteated Woody’s .. Some Eastern Towhee’s .. BlueBirds .. Yellow Warblers …

I just went on the Audubon Christmas Bird count here in SE Penna … Saw 3 new life birds .. A ” Rusty Blackbird ” .. A Winter Wren and a Lincoln Sparrow. I really enjoy the birds for sure.

How do I get to Kips other Bird cams ? I only know of this one.

Have a SAFE and Happy Holiday Season .. Looking forward to hearing from you Terri.

Brian

Happy Holidays to Everyone .. Hope eveyone has a SAFE and Happy Holiday Season.

Brian

Hi Brian!
The other webcams Kip has are not birdcams, but webcams of BlueRidge and the are fantastic!! This is the only birdcam Kip has. Hope you have a wonderful holiday!!

LOL!! I just saw a squirrel on the platform feeder. The feeder started swinging and the squirrel fell off!!hehehehe!!!

HELP! On the 26th I was trying to manipulate the cam (which I have never been able to figure out) and clicked on take a picture. I got the picture and was able to send it to myself by email. Now the camera doesn’t move from that time and date. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

I have not used this feature .. Not sure how or what you would do.

Brian

GREAT! It magically fixed itself. I have really missed it these 3 days–I’ll be checking it often today!

I went out-of-town 25th-28th, power went out on the 26th, cam rebooted but wasn’t uploading stills, squirrels took over and emptied me out because I forgot & left a ladder near the feeders—some xmas birding mayhem!

My chores are complete and everything should be back to normal.

Brian, I did have multiple cams but now just utilize one pan/tilt/zoom cam to cover all of the feeders. However, I stream an interior cam inside the bluebird house when/if they start nesting in the Spring.

Also, I added instructions on how to save a still shot from the cam on the “About” page.

Hi Brian,
Sorry, I wasn’t on here lately, so I am late in answering you.
Stephanie is correct; Kip’s other webcams are not birdcams, but cams of the local area. In case you just want to see them, they are: blueridgewebcam.com, askacam.com, blueridgelakecam.com, and toccoarivercam.com. The cams are great, but do not do the area true justice…..seeing it all “live” by being there, interacting with the great people (everyone is so friendly), smelling the clean air, …just the whole atmosphere; I love it. We hope to retire to our cabin there soon!

Hi Terri

I booked marked them webcams .. can’t wait to see them in daylight tomm .. I may have to take a trip down to that area with the wife .. it sure looks like from what I saw so far. We have our cabin in the mountains in central penna .. I wish we had cams like these.

Brian

Wow!! There are 10 pine siskins on the finch feeder right now!! One on every feeding port!!!

They were sucking down half a tube a day. Twice as many of them on the ground. Pretty mellow birds. They don’t fuss with each other as much as the finches.

Same here! and that thistle is so expensive, but they love it!

Looks like its snowing in Blue Ridge!

I just had 2 red crowned parrots flying around my neighborhood this morning!

We got another dusting. Hoping for a big snow this year. We’ve had one 4-5 inch storm in the eight years we’ve been here; everything else has been a dusting. I like snow.

Parrots flying around…that’s crazy to think about in 20-degree weather.

I wish we got snow more often. The parrots love it around here! Its been in the upper 70s here during the day.

Awwww!!!!I just saw a white dog with brown spots on cam!!How cute!!!! Is that your dog?
I though Honeybee was a different breed.

That’s Maisy, my mom’s rescue puppy we’re babysitting/training. She’s a handful: beagle, whippet, greyhound, jack russel, who knows?

She scares the birds though. She likes the sunflower and suet that falls to the ground.

So cute!! The cam was pointed to the ground for a few minutes and she appeared and if to say “Look at me”.! hehe!!

What a nice variety of birds for me to see this morning! This is the first website i look at everymorning and the first thing i see is american goldfinch, pine siskin, white breasted nutchhatch, female northern cardinal and tufted titmouse!

Another nice sighting this morning! Male red bellied woodpecker on the platform feeder. I love those! We dont have them in my area. Also a hairy woodpecker on at the same time!

I did a doubletake when I saw the dog instead of a bird!
I’ve just recently found this site and I am addicted. Love your setup. You must spend a fortune on seed. I noticed the log feeder was stripped clean in just a few days.

Thanks Judy & welcome!
Between the bandwidth & seed costs, it’s definitely not a cheap endeavor. That danged log feeder is getting to be a chore; it’s messy to fill and like you say they’re emptying it in two days, and I’m way too lazy for that! I’m going to replace it with the upside-down suet feeder for a spell. It holds two cakes and I don’t have to carve and poke every few days.

Hi Kip!
I think that upside-down suet feeder is a great idea! From what i remember, the birds loved it before. The suet log does look messy.lol! I never did make one of those, i just use suet cakes, they are so much easier. Still seeing lots of pine siskins and american goldfinches!

Oh dear, Kip! I think something unfortunate has happened at the platform feeder!

I had been noticing a little bird that looked like that one acting strangely a few days ago. It would barely move. Could be the same one.

I just saw a female red bellied woodpecker on the upside down suet feeder!

Yes, Stephanie you’ll be glad you passed on the log setup. It’s messier and I think it’s a bit too easy for them to get at it. Plus, when they get close to finishing a hole, sometimes they push a remaining big chunk through, and it winds up on the ground as doggie treats. And the dogs were spending too much time around the feeders scavenging.

Thank you Judy. I didn’t even notice the little fellow (pine siskin). He was dead when I got to him after reading your post. Don’t know what happened. Perhaps it hit its head on the plexi roof or something, but that’s never happened after thousands of takeoffs and landings.

The bluebirds made a showing this morning. I heard them calling loudly and looked out to see at least 5 (a first) bluebirds darting around the house & feeder in flashes of bright blue. Something about that shade of blue hooks me like a shiny fishing lure.

They seemed territorial but friendly, and eventually just the two were left to check out their house. I’m guessing they were the original mating pair and those were some of the offspring from the first and only successful brood. They still won’t take a single mealworm–big, fat juicy ones swarming all over the place. I’m convinced mine only like them during mating season.

I grabbed some shots of them hanging out on their snow-covered roof, but the power went out before I saved them. Here’s a shot my dad sent me today. I’d credit the photographer but don’t know where it came from. I’ll call it, “Bluebird at the end of the rainbow”:

The woodpeckers are loving the upside down suet feeder. I just saw a hairy woodpecker on it! What a beautiful picture of the blue bird at the end of the rainbow!! You should have that framed!

It also pays to look down on the ground with the cam from time to time. I just spotted four dark-eyed juncos and two white-throated sparrows foraging on the ground below the feeders, enjoying the scraps!

I agree Jan! Sometimes i pan the camera around also and saw snake near the bird bath!

I like the new perch on the cam! Very nice Kip! Is it me or does it seem like the goldfinches are changing from there drab plumage, to bright yellow, earlier this year? It seems the males dont start changing until more into March and its only February.

Hi Kip,

There seems to be a fluffed up little pine siskin just sitting in the platform feeder. Hopefully he’s just hanging out, but I’m little worried since I think there was an earlier post about you finding one dead a little while ago. I’ll check back later and hope he has flown off by then!

Stephanie, I thought I noticed that too. Perhaps that means Winter is almost done here.

Thanks Andrea! Please see new post for Andrea’s photo: http://feedmecam.com/blog/posts/172

Today a brown-headed nuthatch on the yankee flipper.

Isn’t that a gorgeous little bird? I’ve only noticed one coming around, and I’ve been trying to get a good photo. One time when filling a feeder, it sat on one of the feeder arms just feet away and really chatted it up with me. Trusting & a great personality!

One of the few birds found almost exclusively in the United States…Tool use in birds is rare, but the Brown-headed Nuthatch will use a piece of bark as a lever to pry up other bark to look for food.
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Brown-headed_Nuthatch.html

It happens to be on the Audubon WatchList:

The biggest problem this pine-forest specialist encounters today is the destruction of southeastern pine forests. Commercial logging as well as private and public land management practices have reduced its breeding and foraging habitat. After clear-cutting, a forest needs at least 12 to 25 years of regeneration before it can become suitable for Brown-headed Nuthatches to nest. Clear-cutting as well as fire suppression reduces the number of snags available as nesting sites. Since this bird makes limited movements away from its breeding grounds, forest fragmentation is also harmful. Birds aren’t re-colonizing where suitable habitat has once again become available.
http://audubon2.org/watchlist/viewSpecies.jsp?id=41

Hi Kip,
Someone told me that Salmonellosis is a big problem for pine siskins and its almost impossible to keep the feeder clean enough. She said sometimes pulling the feeders for awhile sometimes helps. I think you should ask Tom Striker. He may have an idea whats going on also.

I think especially the platform feeder should be cleaned (just with a brush and water; after cleaning dry with some paper towels) before each refill.

Just had a nice group of six dark-eyed junco’s on the ground.

Fantastic to see all those beatifull birds, especially the northern cardinal is very beautiful. It’s only a suggestion, but wouldn’t it be nice if there was a list of al the species that have been seen on the feeders so we can get a better view on the rarity of the birds.

It is impossible to keep that platform feeder clean enough. I was thinking of replacing it, but it attracts species that won’t use the Yankee Flipper, like the grosbeaks. I will talk to Tom.

Hi jonas,
I did do a post on most of the birds (http://feedmecam.com/blog/posts/11). I’ll update it soon. Need to add dark-eyed juncos, brown-headed nut hatches, pine siskins, rose-breasted grosbeaks, red-bellied woodpecker, indigo buntings(rarely), red-headed woodpeckers(rarely). Did I miss any?

You have red headed woodpeckers there? How cool!! I’ve never seen one your feeder. Ive seen Hairy woodpeckers on your feeders and like in the pictures you posted. The red-breasted grosbeak is actually called a rose breasted grosbeak

I’m always surprised to see one, and they’re shy and don’t hang around but for a few seconds. Oddly our friends a couple of streets over get them all the time on their Sky Cafe. They were surprised that I was so surprised to see 3 on their feeder at one time feasting away.

Whoops: ROSE-breasted, thank you!

Your welcome! Maybe if you have to replace your platform feeder, just try another hopper type feeder with a roof. Thats what i use. Its kinda like your platform feeder but has a wood roof on it with a screen on the bottom for drainage. It might be a little smaller than your platform feeder though. Good luck!

Great suggestion. You know I think I’m going to put one a post w/ a baffle instead of hanging it so it doesn’t swing in the wind. Should be better for cam shots. I’ve been putting off going to Tom’s because I know I’m going to stretch my stretched credit card: I need a heated, elevated bath (dang dogs think it’s their watering hole too), fine seed, hopper, stand, baffle, owl house…now I have butterflies in my stomach—yea, a butterfly house thing too!

Can’t stand it any longer. The sun is out & I’m off to the bird store to throw some money at a project or two.

lol! Very cool Kip! That post idea is good. My dog drinks out of the bird bath too.lol! Im looking forward to seeing what kind of project you come up with! I think will be a good one!
Its nice to see the sun out for a change, isnt it? We’ve had rain here alot the last couple of weeks and now the sun it out here too and its supposed to get warmer. Have fun with your project!

Back from the store and I made it out of there @ under $500, $429 to be exact after some great deals from Sonja/Tom—my stimulus package for the birding industry:

-heated birdbath
-hanging water station (caught my eye, why didn’t I think of that?!)
-huge hopper feeder (it would make a nice dog house for a Chihuahua) w/ pole/auger/baffle
-owl house (screech owls are just starting to nest)
-new night hawk color cam for the owls (hopefully)
-20 lbs. of sunflower hearts
-10 lbs. of shelled peanuts

Think that about covers it. You guys were right-on on the Salmonella/pine siskins! I’ll update that post with what Sonja told me when the sun goes down.

Nice hanging water station Kip! I’ve seen those before. Now let the dog try and drink out of that!!LOL! Sounds like your going to have another GREAT set up! Im looking forward to it!

Wow, Kip!

All of the new stuff sounds great! Too bad about the pine siskins and Salmonella. I always worry about keeping my feeders clean, too. Many of them are very hard to clean. I’m looking to trade in a few of mine this spring (our WBU store has an old-feeder trade-in sale sometime around March/April), so I’ll have to check in with you to see how the new set-ups are working out. The hanging water station is so cool…I haven’t seen them before.

P.S. I can’t wait for the yellow-throated warbler to return! Let me know when you spot him this spring.

Oh me neither Andrea! I love that yellow throated warbler! Thats another bird to add to add to Kips list of birds the come to the feeders!

Sonja said they have had many people come in the store inquiring about their dead pine siskins. You can’t beat that kind of local information when you’re somewhat clueless. I updated my, ahem, ‘overeating’ post: http://feedmecam.com/blog/posts/172

Yea, hope that water station works out; I’m thinking a bunch of bluebird youngsters… I will have to try to bring it in on cold nights for a few more weeks, so if it’s missing some mornings, you’ll know I haven’t gotten around to that chore yet.

Yellow-throated warbler? Unless I’m spacing it, I don’t recall seeing/discussing one. Does anyone have a snapshot from the cam?

I’ve seen the yellow throated warbler also. Kip, look at your post back on April 16, 2008. You’ve seen them before too! You said they were cool!

You know, I don’t think I looked it up at the time and I’m guessing that was the brown-headed nuthatch I was mistakenly carrying-on about. When you guys mentioned the YTW here in the last few posts, I Googled it & don’t recall seeing it. Is it always that bright yellow? http://images.google.com/images?q=yellow%20throated%20warbler

Anyway, my eyes are peeled now. < –DORK! great w/ technology, a little above average w/ birds.

LOL!! Yes, thats it. I guess they are that yellow all the time but i dont have them in my area so i’ve only seen one on here. I saw it several times on the suet log when you had all the feeders in view at the same time. My eyes are peeled too!

Hehe Kip! Well, I guarantee when you do see the YTW, you won’t forget it! I had never seen one before, and I was beyond ecstatic when it showed up. Absolutely beautiful! The throat is the most brilliant yellow I have ever seen. I saw it pretty regularly for a while, right around 5:30pm. This year, I will try my best to get a snapshot.

I just saw a beautiful male red bellied woodpecker on the upside down suet feeder! and the new hopper feeder is really nice Kip!

I love the new set up Kip! Its coming along great! I think your the webcam king!

The cam king is getting his can kicked by the owl cam. The adapter (Dazzle) the manufacturer recommended does not work w/ ustream.tv, justin.tv, etc. Great video–no sound. Spent most of the day on 3 XP machines & 1 Vista machine and couldn’t get the Dazzle (DVC 100) to produce sound on even a camcorder, so it’s back to the store—I’m done Dazzlin’!

Have a new PCI capture card (should be less buggy than the USB adapters) coming this afternoon so hopefully the owl cam will be reliably back on air tonight w/ sound. Still no owls.

LOL! Kip! We appreciate everything your doing and i hope the bugs get worked out! Hope fully, an owl will come and make it there home. Its a nice home, rent free,etc. I’ll be checking it out tonight when i get home.

I just saw a brown headed nuthatch on the upside down suet feeder! Thats a first for me!
Very cool!

I’m dying to get a photo of that guy: he’s fast.

No activity yet in the owl house. Hope it’s not a dud. I’m getting antsy to see some new wildlife, got very lucky with the bluebirds!

Have you guys seen this hummingbird babies webcam? They’re just getting ready to fledge. They fledged today. Dang, I missed it by an hour: saw them hovering like helos, got distracted, came back and they were gone. Drats. I gotta try a hummer nest cam. Tom?!! When & how?

Since that show is done, check out this hummingbird nest cam (haven’t hatched yet).

I couldnt get a photo of it because i saw it from work on my work computer. Yes, i have seen the hummingbird babies webcam. It was pretty cool! Awww, i missed the fledging. I wasnt home today. Those were annas hummingbirds and they are all over my area.
A hummingbird nest cam would be awesome Kip! And i see you also have the streaming hopper cam. I’ll have to check that out tommorrow. Very cool! I will post your link in the
Brazil Cam that i moderate if you want. You will get more viewers which i think would be great!

Kip, that hopper cam is really neat. Dang, you come up with some good ideas.

Yes, that hopper cam is cool! But ustream is having problems right now because i cant get into any of the channels to chat:(. Hopefully, ustream will have there problems fixed soon. I have always been able to chat on ustream. I just saw an american goldfinch and tufted titmouse!

Well, i finally got to the chat room but it takes awhile.lol! Great job Kip!! I love the view!!

Love the new hopper cam Kip! My daughter is getting to know a few birds this way which is so cool. I haven’t been on here in a long time. Just not enough time lately. I checked out the hummer nest cam and LOVE it! And hey Steph!!!

Hey Paige!! I was just in the chat in hopper cam!

Hi Kip!

I have a couple of pictures of the BHN that I took on your feeders last spring via a screen shot (before you had the photo option). They’re not the greatest, but I’ll e-mail them to you. Maybe you could put them up until we get a better one!

Kip has done it again. He has provided a diversion with his latest webcam that will keep me capturing pictures for my blog — cabinbirds.blogspot.com.

The noise the birds make as they land alert me to go look! Thanks once again.

The water station bowls look like frozen kidneys or something.

Yay! ustream is running smoothly again! I love the new hopper cam!

Today I took a few snapshots of a squirrel knocking over the hoppercam. You had it back up very quickly. Maybe VELCRO will keep it from falling again. I love your yard. Thank you for all you do, Sincerely QueenE

Thanks Ron! It wasn’t exactly my idea though; I got jealous looking at the hummer cam and thought, you know, I’m passing up streaming some pretty steady activity. I know I have another cam around here somewhere…

Stephanie, glad you like the new view. It’s great for me too because I can catch the action while I’m working. Perhaps our next house will allow me to locate the feeders outside of my office window, but for now, I watch like everyone else, ahem, on the monitor as a bird-break from work. Makes me want to shut down the other side of the hopper and the other feeders; it would be crazy traffic but would not be good for the other cam. Thanks for moderating the chat and sending folks to the site; the more the merrier!

Paige, I didn’t even consider how much easier it would make for bird identification, great for kids and big kids! Unfortunately, they don’t do any chirping when they’re chowing, but you get to know each species table manners like they were sitting across the table from you. It really becomes more apparent that they are constantly having territorial spats even though there is more than enough food, and they are constantly looking up and down, all-around, for predators and competitors. Life ain’t easy, even when you can fly & feed for ‘free’.

Got the pictures Andrea, thanks; I’ll post them. That’s funny they’re on the bluebird mealworm feeder. Did you see them taking any worms? He’s been chowing a lot on something, or is it a husky youngster? I’ve seen a BHN hit the far edge of the hopper feeder on ustream. He’s camera shy and likes the drive-thru window. That bird wears shades and abhors the paparazzi, but he’ll talk your ear off if he’s in a proper mood—my kind of bird.

Thank you Barb! I’m considering pulling the suet off of ends of the hopper feeder because of all the racket the woodpeckers make on the cam! Good idea?

Hi Queen E, welcome!
Did you happen to catch how he got on to the hopper feeder? It’s an ongoing dilemma w/ squirrels: I have to have the feeders close to the cam and some backdrop to get somewhat clear shots (closer is always better), and the squirrels take advantage of this; I have a new strategy as one of my spring projects so the fight goes on. I did strap the cam down w/ a few joined wire ties so at least it won’t get abused like the food.

As far as the cams:
Hoppercam
- Logitech Quickcam Pro for Notebooks - can’t beat the price, quality, sound—buggy though
- drilled a few holes in elec box for lens, mount, wires, and I’ll probably drill a small one for the mic since this cam has a roof
- USB-to-Ethernet extender (claims it will do 200′, I get an unreliable 50′). I’m shopping new ones: http://www.usbfirewire.com/usb_repeater_comparison_chart.html

PTZ IP cam
- Canon VB-C50IR
- Dotworkz Marine Enclosure
- US Relay interface/streaming

Both of these are currently sharing a 10MB cable connection. Notice any depredation since I’ve added the 2nd cam? The IP cam seems slower on my end. I might have to move a cam over to my DSL connection.

It’s pretty cool to have people from all over the world checking out your backyard and I’m glad to share it and glad that folks drop by! Hope I can get some streaming eggs hatched live this spring.

Hi Kip!

Thanks for your note. I don’t remember seeing the BHN eating any mealworms…I do remember seeing them on the log suet feeder, and more recently, I saw one on the Yankee Flipper, but he was too fast to grab a picture. I love how talkative nuthatches are, and I love their squeaky nasal voices! I have only heard they white-breasted and red-breasted nuthatches…maybe we will get to hear the BHN sometime on the hopper cam, if he makes an appearance!

On a sad note, we finally had a spring-like day, and I went outside to clean out my bluebird boxes (one had tree swallows and the other had bluebirds last summer, but I never saw any bluebirds fledge). Inside the box that had the bluebirds, there were 7 perfectly intact, unhatched bluebird eggs. I’m wondering what went wrong? Kip, have you ever had any unhatched eggs? I’m wondering if it could be due to the eggs being infertile, or the parents not incubating them properly (inexperience), or something else? Maybe there is something I can do differently this year?

We have Brown-headed nuthatches in the pine trees here in N FL. My friends say they make a sound like the bathtub-rubber-duck-squeaky toy.

I’ll be putting up my Humming Bird feeder mid-march as they often start showing up the 3rd or 4th week (but in April for sure).

I think the Shephards hook (feeder hanger) is too close to hopper feeder. My squirrels climb mine all the time. I can email you pics of him on the feeder. A few of the preset camera postions are a lil off now. Thanks again Kip

Andrea, yes, I had an unhatched egg. It was the last brood and she had abandoned the nest. No clue why, but I think I read that it’s more likely to happen w/ the second/third broods.

Queen E, I suspected that’s how he was getting on it, so I moved them around last night and reset the changed presets. For some reason sometimes it takes US Relay a day or two to incorporate those changes into their viewer.

I caught a flock of cedar waxwings in the binocs as they raided the berry bushes in the woods around the feeders for about 15-minutes, then they were gone. First time I’ve noticed them here.

A gorgeous male Bluebird perched on top of the bluebird house at 7:56 AM.

Thank you Carolyn! You & the bluebirds were ahead of me this morning; spring-forward still has me a little backwards. They stayed and ate mealworms yesterday (for the first time since last summer) and were in & out of the house (which I will try to keep “on air” now): http://feedmecam.com/birdhouse/

I grabbed some photos that I will post…

I’m really looking forward to watching the bluebirds again this spring!:D I’m already watching the bluebird house for occupants!

Kip,
I see the blues are eating at their feeder. Is there any way you could re-orient the feeder so that the camera is not aimed at the end of the feeder, but rather at the front?
I’m looking forward to eggs and babies.

Kip,
Thanks for turning the mealworm feeder. Much better angle for viewing the visitors.

There were 7 viewers just on the streaming cam enjoying a nature window. It gives me such pleasure to see and hear up close–Titmouse, Chickadee, Goldfinch, Brown-headed and White-breasted Nuthatches on the feeder and Redbellied Woodpecker and Cardinal calling in the distance. What a treat!

My question was just answered by Carolyn. I was wondering if that is a brown headed nuthatch that I have been seeing at the hopper feeder? That is a first time bird for me. Thanks for all the cams it is such a treat to visit you in Georgia. I am looking forward to seeing the bluebird activity.

NP, Ron. Still getting that new cam dialed-in. Glad you like it Carolyn. Rachel, yes those are brown-headed nuthatches that frequent the feeder. We caught some video of the yellow-throated warbler the other day; what a treat:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1296829
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1296743

Kip, what’s up with the user controlled cam? Can I get a code sheet so I know what 1-7 represent? Sure would like to be able to watch the outside of the bluebird house, but by the time I pan, tilt and zoom to finally find it, it times out. You know I truly appreciate all you do with these cams, but it’s frustrating when you can’t maneuver from view to view.

Sorry, I’m trying to make it work. There’s a known problem with the presets on this cam and my relay service. There’s always one bug you can’t kill. Trying to hack out a config that works. I’ll post here when I figure something out.

Sorry to say I don’t like the new interface. Newer is not always better. There was nothing wrong with the previous interface.

I dunno. All I get is the big blue marble and no controls.

I just set that bluebird under the rainbow picture as wallpaper on my computer!:)
Thanks for the great picture Kip!!

I just visited the new chickadee nest cam. Is that in a nest box in your yard? I have been trying to attract chickadees, what kind of nestbox is it and how is it mounted?
I also saw the bluebird egg, I hope it goes as well as last years 1st nesting. I’m really looking forward to watching both the bluebird and the chickadee.

Hi Rachel,
Yes, it’s attached to a post that holds up the back porch. Had it attached to a tree forever & don’t think anything ever happened, but I didn’t have a cam in there. It’s mounted at chest level with hole facing away from wind that always comes off of the lake.

Kip,
What type of web cam do you recommend?

Kip,
It’s doing it again. If I go to any view other than the hopper feeder and try to make even a small adjustment (P, T, or Z), the view immediately jumps back to the hopper feeder. I can P, T, & Z on the hopper feeder successfully, but not on any other view. I don’t know if you are aware of this, since it may be something that doesn’t happen on your host computer. Not criticizing, just trying to help.

What do you want to do w/ the cam SCweedman?

Thanks Ron, yes it’s wacked again. No rhyme nor reason to this cam. I’m giving up on it; I’ll be replacing it soon. At least I learned an important lesson: I’ll never buy another IP cam that’s not an Axis. Absolutely the best.

Kip,
Thanks for the reply. It’s just aggravating when you want to zoom in for a closer look and the cam takes off to somewhere else. Still loving those interior cams, though.

It’s really, really aggravating to get it working and have absolutely no clue why it goes bonkers. Not to worry. Pulling out the big gun for the feedmecam. Same cam as downtown cam. Best PTZ cam on the market IMO. I can move this Canon to the lake since I don’t do user-controlled video on that cam.

All right!!! That downtown cam is awesome. I’ve been inspecting the cracks between the bricks in the new sidewalk with that baby!! And it responds pretty quickly.
If I ever get moved (and win the lottery), I’ll have to get you to help me set up the Clevelandcam so everybody can see the never ending traffic jam around the courthouse!!!

I would like to put it on a feeder in South Carolina.

I am a bluebirder from up in Michigan and run a large nestbox trail. It appears that the sun is shining directly into your Chickadee entrance hole in the afternoon - right now at 4:33 my time there is a huge spot of sunlight right on the eggs. This is not a good idea, hope you don’t mind my mentioning. Even with ventilation, on most days, direct sunshine can heat up the interior of the box very quickly, just like an oven. (As well as make the incubating female uncomfortable.) If you can turn the nestbox facing either East or North you can avoid this problem. The other alternative is to tip the box slightly toward the ground to change the angle of the entrance. Hope you don’t mind my mentioning this, but it would be a shame to overheat the eggs after all this work by the pair. Delightful birds, by the way! CONGRATS!

Sorry, SCweedman, busy keeping these cams going. Eggs hatch any hour now. I should have asked you: how much do you want to spend, and do you want to broadcast to ustream, just upload still photos, or just view from home & not broadcast?

Malinda, I don’t mind at all, thank you!! I was looking at that today and wondering. I put that box up to test a cam and there she was. I can easily move it and will do so at her earliest convenience. Thanks again!

Glad you read my comment and were not offended. You *must* be very careful making any changes to a nesting in progress, especially a chickadee. They abandon easily, so only adjust as little as it will take to keep that sun out of the hole. You may be able to just add a little extra length to the front of the roof and keep the hole in the same direction. (Kind of like a shade awning.) She will be much more comfortable while incubating if you can handle the move. Do it slowly and carefully since there are eggs. In addition to the adult’s comfort, the babies hatch out naked, blind, and are very sensitive to heat. I doubt they would make it long with the kind of sun I saw going in the hole today. Again, I can’t stress it enough, move the box as little as you can get away with to minimize the chance of abandonment. And wait to do anything until the female is off the nest. Have a helper and all supplies you may need organized and with you so it will be quick. I think I read somewhere on your site that the nestbox is attached to a post or rail on your porch. Technically, it should be on a metal pole with a baffle to keep out raccoons and cats. It may be too late for that though. Remounting might be more than Mama would tolerate. After this fledging, there is time for another bird to use the box, so look into poles and baffles if you can. GOOD LUCK and thanks for caring enough to do what you can to insure their success.

While she was at lunch, I added a sloping roof (board) at about the same angle as the bluebird roof, but much longer. She flew right in as if nothing were different. Do you think it will mess with the fledge?

As far as coons & cats, none of the neighbors have cats (2nd homeowners), never seen one around, and I have a dog that chases cats & coons. It’s about 10-feet from my pillow, so I doubt any coons could get to it before I heard. I’ll rig a baffle, but next time she’ll get a proper pole & baffle.

You’re a saint, thanks!

Nice work! You are over the hard part now — mama accepted it and is incubating. As far as fledging goes, ideally you want the young to be able to launch themselves outward and UPward. It can be hard for them to get airborne again if they end up on the ground. I have watched a few chickadee nests fledge and it is a sight to behold. If you are home when it happens, you will KNOW it. The adults are very, very vocal and so are the young. The first time I saw it, it was like watching black and white ping-pong balls bouncing out the entrance hole and hopping from branch to branch to branch until the last kid had left. Then the adults gathered them all together, tempting them the whole time with food dangling from their beaks, and they flew as a group to the woods behind my house. I hope I never forget that experience! For now, your nestbox is just fine. The female can incubate and they can feed the young when they hatch. If it were in my yard, I would shorten the board to about half that size — a week before fledging. You don’t want to do it too close to the expected fledging date because if they get scared, they can jump prematurely and will be unable to fly. Gathering them back up and getting them to stay in the box once this has happened is very difficult. They will likely just pop right out again. A shorter board will let them set their sights on something in the distance to aim for, rather than testing their skills at DOWN and then back UP on their first try at flight. Are you monitoring this nestbox in addition to the camera itself? Chickadee nests are famous for attracting bumblebees, and paper wasps often build nests on the interior roofs of nestboxes. If you see the adult chickadees hesitating to go inside, check inside the box for these troublemakers. Wishing you luck from Michigan! I am enjoying the cam while I wait on my own nests to proceed.

“If it were in my yard, I would shorten the board to about half that size — a week before fledging. You don’t want to do it too close to the expected fledging date because if they get scared, they can jump prematurely and will be unable to fly.”

If you had not responded, that’s what I would have done. I’ll have a half-length board ready to go. Feel free to tell me when.

FWIW, to make the least amount of racket, I pre-drilled two small holes on the angle-cut (doesn’t look like it in the pic) top part of the board, then pre-screwed 2 one-size larger wood screw to mount it to the 6×6 post. So she leaves, I go out w/ board w/ 2 screws embedded, zip-zip w/ the power screwdriver–done.

Kip, you’re the best! You take advice so gracefully and cheerfully. I wish more people were as easy going as you! Enjoying having two nests to watch now. A great big thanks from me!!!

Hey Paige!
Kip is the best, isnt he?! He is really easy going and a great guy! I missed the hatching this morning because my internet was down all day but hopefully will be ok tommorrow. Come and chat sometime:)

Hey Steph! I just got on and saw the new littles all wiggly and hungry. They are adorable. Congrats to Kip the surrogate grandpa! HeeHee!

Thank you paige & steph!. I’m getting a little worried though; she’s overdue. paige would she still be incubating if the eggs are not viable?

Sorry I haven’t been keeping up w/ blog. 5 babies, cams,chat & work have me maxed-out. Ron, the Axis 233D (same as downtown cam) is ordered & should be here this week. I LOVE that cam.

So sorry for the loss of the mother bluebird. I lost the father last year and the mother was able to struggle through. I provided her with many mealworms. With the mother missing there is no one to brood the babies and they need to be kept warm especially at night. I see they do have alot of their feathers which will help. I hope they can survive. Good luck!

Any chance you could help that male bluebird out with some supplemental feeding and make it easier for him to handle the nesting responsibilities alone? They will readily accept mealworms, waxworms and crickets. How old are these babies? Keeping five nestlings alive is tough to pull off for one adult. Do you have the phone number handy for your local wildlife rehabilitator?

Kip!!! You da Man. The Bluebird cams are terrific. At 2:30 p.m. Friday 5/15 you had 89 viewers watching anticipating the little birdies taking flight. Super camera work with the nest, worms and outside of the birdhouse. This is extremely entertaining and educational as well. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I’m sure everyone is enjoying this up close look at bird life.

I have not viewed the chickadee cam during the day, last few days…
And at night it’s off air.. What happened that there is only 1 chick. baby?
Is the cam turned off for good, or can I view it tomorrow in the daytime.
I just am wondering why only 1 left.
Happy for the Bluebirds.
Thanks
Barbara

Hey Kip,
I hope you’ve gotten a little rest since the bbs finally fledged on Sat. You did some amazing camera work during those three days of fits and starts! Thank you a million! May I ask, when you get a chance, that you post video of the actual fledge for those of us that missed it. I sat at the computer until I was butt-soar and bleary-eyed but had to leave at 10:45 Sat. morning … alas, I heard the first chick fledged at about 11:00. I tried to tune in to your award show on Sat. nite but couldn’t get it. Congratulations anyway … well deserved! Looking forward to the next bb family … Susan in Ellijay (auntsusie 1366)

Can anyone tell me what happened to the other chickadee babies.. There were 3..
Did they die, did something get in there and kill them?
I was upset to see only one left.
Thanks.
Barbara

Excellent cam job on bluebird fledging Kip! As always! #1 cam man!

what happened to the bluebird house cam? did something happen to the babies?

Thanks for you patience guys…updates here:

http://feedmecam.com/blog/posts/252

Hi Kip!
Hope you have a great Memorial weekend if i dont talk to you before that:). See you in chat soon:)

You too Stephanie! Hope everyone else has a nice day off!

Have a great 4th of July Kip!

Kips cams are the greatest!! clap clap clap!!!!!!!!!!!

the feeder is empty!!

Jan 17, 2010.. Just checking.. is the Live video stream not working?
The other day I was linked up, and for last 4 days.. no live stream viewing.
Thanks.
Barbara

Please come back on, we miss the birds………….